Tuesday, May 3, 2016

Echo Bay, Ontario

2,213 miles  (1,278 US miles + 1,528 Canadian km)

May 3 – This is my first day going back into Canada.  I’ve been reading a book with the title The Woman Who Fell from the Sky.  I’m enjoying its true story, but it’s the title itself that resonates with my virtual travel experience.  It’s the way I initially envisioned this journey: cycle a bunch of miles and then drop in on that spot of roadway to see what’s there.  In Minnesota & Michigan I felt dissatisfied with those fleeting glimpses, and I did more background research to discover more meaning behind each place.  I planned my way to the river between the nations, but I looked no farther.  Now I’m seeing a big empty map area ahead of me, and I'm dropping into each stopover place with a blank slate & fresh eyes again.  I wonder what I’ll be able to learn.

Echo Bay is a community located on the shores of Lake George, east of The Soo.  Google Maps is unclear & self-contradictory about the names of the various bodies of water around here, calling the larger lake here Lake Huron (not to be confused with the Great Lake Huron further southeast), St. Mary’s River, or Lake George.  There’s even another Georgian Bay farther east, and an Echo Bay in the middle of the smaller Lake George.  Can I not rely on Google Maps for accurate Canadian Information?

The Echo Bay community is home to one of the designers of the Canadian dollar coin, known affectionately as the “loonie” because the back side features a Canadian loon.  

So, this being part of the Canadian hinterlands, the town had to erect a giant replica of the coin as a monument to the designer, its hometown hero.  

And fans also tracked down the specific island pictured in the background.  Now that's some Canadian national pride!


info:  Wikipedia.com & Google Maps

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