Originally posted by robtcorl The metric system has always been problematic for me.
Originally posted by savoche I'm sure that goes both ways
I reached driving age in the Pacific Northwest, so it was a regular thing to head up to British Columbia for the weekend. Everything is metric there. Gas is sold by liters. Beer too.
And the speed limit signs on the Canadian version of an interstate highway are metric.
When you see a sign that reads 100, that ain't miles an hour Bubba. Fortunately they started printing kilometers an hour in a smaller font inside the miles an hour line on speedometers not too long after I started to drive, and 100 kph is about 60mph (not exactly, but close enough), and everyone cheats by another 5 or so and the RCMP don't bother them.
They also have zones posted at 105 and 110.
That's cookin' man.
And while driving Monstro and company I visited British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec quite a bit. They are all metric. The instrument panel in the trucks could be switched from metric to imperial easily, but I had to finish my log out each day with the miles I ran, and easy as it was to change, I quickly tired of it and just guestimated my way across the Great White North.
Here I am taking a lunch break on the Eastern Alberta Plain. About 7 kilometers (4 miles) to the East (left) is Manitoba. The two lane highway I was on runs mostly parallel to the border from Medicine Hat 160 kilometers (97 miles) North to Oyen, Alberta where I hooked up with a similar two lane highway that angles Northeasterly to Saskatoon, 365 kilometers (227 miles).
A long day's ride, to be sure. I ran it twice, the first time out to Saskatoon and back to Medicine hat in one day, the second trip I made it two days and stayed overnight at the Flying J in Saskatoon, then made it all the way back to Sweetgrass, Montana the second day.
And although it may seem lonely and desolate, it sure beats running I-95 or I-5, or any interstate from Kansas City to the Atlantic Ocean.
Saskatoon Flying J.
They pull double 16 meters (53 footers) on the Canada Prairie.
Sweetgrass Pilot (used to be a Flying J, even has a real restaurant).
The next day a Ukranian backed into the side of my truck so hard it shoved it sideways 4 feet, and broke the cab to frame mounts moving the cab about 4 inches to the right side of the chassis.
I had just fueled the truck, and his ICC bumper (a bumper designed many years ago to make trailers safer) pierced the left fuel tank. 300 gallons of diesel on the ground.
Jackass said it was my fault.
So much for the metric system.