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My trip to Canada in a Cyber truck

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In July I traveled from Wisconsin to the Savant Lake area in western Ontario with several friends in a Cyber truck. When I told my wife that this year's trip would in my buddy’s Cyber truck, she was very much against me going in that vehicle, fearful of how the locals would react.

I have to say that reception we got was somewhat of a surprise to us. It started at Rydens store, the last place to stop before arriving at the Canadian border crossing at Pigeon River on Hwy 61 near the northwest corner of Lake Superior. A young lady approached us explaining she was Canadian and that she and her husband had resumed crossing the border from their home in Thunder Bay to gas-up, buy booze and smokes at Rydens, as many Canadians do, because of the huge price difference. Initially, after the tariff issue started they boycotted shopping in the US. She was the first Canadian to plainly state that they didn’t blame US citizens for the current situation between our countries. It was a pleasant conversation. Maybe it was the Wenonah Ii on the roof rack, who knows, but it was first of many pleasant encounters with every day Canadian citizens.

At almost every stop, and there were many, since we needed to recharge every 2-3 hours, we had similar experiences. The farther west we traveled on the Trans-Canadian highway we, or rather the truck, was photographed. Many people commented that they had never seen one in person. The age range of people we interacted with was a kid who probably was about 8 to seniors in their 70-80’s.
The kid asked me if the truck was bullet proof since it is clad in 1/16” stainless steel panels, an observation I should have pointed out to the missus, since that may have allayed some of her fears. We got many thumbs up from other drivers and never saw any one finger salutes. Several younger guys in large pickups did u-turns to come back and talk to us and checkout the truck.

Initially, all four of us on the trip were going to travel together in this truck. But two guys had range anxiety and so our backup vehicle was a Chrysler minivan, which was a good idea since we way over shot our turn off on Hwy 599 on the trip up to our entry point. The extra battery power expenditure put us in a potentially serious $$$ situation if we would have needed a tow back to Ignace ON to the nearest Tesla charger. Tesla charging stations were conveniently located as long as you stayed on well traveled routes. When we finally backed into the charger at Ignace we had 2% battery remaining, with the truck regularly warning us of our power deficit. Otherwise, the truck was comfortable, would have been very quiet if not for the canoe on the rack and performed well in auto driving mode (as long as the driver’s eyes continued to be facing forward). So, it was a good trip with no real concerns, other than our navigational error in missing our entry point. All the Tesla charging stations worked (but they were all brand new) and only several of them had other vehicles charging, so we only had to wait the length of time the charging took - 20-30 minutes. This point worked out well for us, 3 guys in their mid to upper 70’s, who needed the time walk around every few hours anyway.

If anyone is concerned about traveling to Canada in a Tesla don’t be. All our interactions with the locals were positive and interesting. Canadians continue to be a warm and friendly bunch who don’t blame us for the problems between Washington and Ottawa.
 
Thanks for the heads up.
I'm curious about how the canoe was carried on the Cyber truck. I've only seen one with racks that looked suitable for skis. Was the canoe pointed to the sky and catching a lot of wind?
 
I had to do a search to find out what a Cyber truck is. I'm not sure what the issue is with them (other than profound ugliness), but please don't bother explaining to me because I suspect it involves something political or media distorted/hyped. Not of interest to me, and not allowed here.

I would be interested in seeing a picture of canoes on top of that vehicle.
 
Thanks for the heads up.
I'm curious about how the canoe was carried on the Cyber truck. I've only seen one with racks that looked suitable for skis. Was the canoe pointed to the sky and catching a lot of wind?

We passed one with a canoe on our way back from Temagami this summer. Yes, the canoe was pointed up at about a 30 degree angle and looked like a flaccid airport windsock. The curvilinear canoe mounted on the back of the angular vehicle. It was a, “what’s wrong with this picture” moment as the disturbing image flashed by…
 
We passed one with a canoe on our way back from Temagami this summer. Yes, the canoe was pointed up at about a 30 degree angle and looked like a flaccid airport windsock. The curvilinear canoe mounted on the back of the angular vehicle. It was a, “what’s wrong with this picture” moment as the disturbing image flashed by…

I hope they were using bow lines. I wonder where you attach those.
 
I checked my few photos, but I don't have one of the truck with the canoe on top. I will check with my buddy who owns the truck.

He looked into commercial racks for the truck and he may have found something that was way more pricey than he would spent. So being a retired mechanical engineer and having a son with a master's in mechanical engineering they designed and 3D printed their own brackets for use on the truck's rear bed knockouts for the racks. They then fabricated the uprights and cross bars making a 2 canoe rack which carried the canoe in a level position. All done very professional-like.

In terms of a trip report this will be real simple. It was a two week trip during which we base camped in the same location the entire time while we went out daily surveying the numerous islands/peninsulas in the southern end of Savant Lake in NW Ontario for evidence of caribou activity. When I am asked how my trip went and what we did, my response is something like this - Johnny and his friends went to Canada for 2 weeks and stumbled around in the boreal forest measuring and photographing caribou s--t. We found a lot and I am now an expert in this activity. Unfortunately, we did not find any antler sheds or fur lined bedding/calving sites, nor any live caribou sightings. We functioned as citizen scientists for the Wabakimi Boreal Caribou Citizen Monitoring Project. So now I have this to put on my CV. I do feel fortunate to have seen a live caribou (June 2016), something that is very rare. And I have made over 30 weeks of trips into the boreal forests of NW Ontario and several into Manitoba P1010019.jpegP1010010.jpeg
 

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I checked my few photos, but I don't have one of the truck with the canoe on top. I will check with my buddy who owns the truck.

He looked into commercial racks for the truck and he may have found something that was way more pricey than he would spent. So being a retired mechanical engineer and having a son with a master's in mechanical engineering they designed and 3D printed their own brackets for use on the truck's rear bed knockouts for the racks. They then fabricated the uprights and cross bars making a 2 canoe rack which carried the canoe in a level position. All done very professional-like.
There might be a market for that. ;)
 
I inherited this 1984 F250 diesel from my dad several years ago. He had already made the wood rack sides for transporting firewood. I added the wood top cross rail supports and bolted on the front bumper upright support. Since the bumper was all steel, it was quite a sturdy attachment. Not so possible with most more modern trucks. It transported this 34' voyageur canoe to many Adirondack canoe races. Sadly, I had to give up on the truck a couple of years ago, as mechanical problems got to be too much to fix.

voyageur canoe truck.jpeg
 
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Glad your trip went smoothly. I would be severely disappointed if any knucklehead had hassled you. We see a number of those stealth looking trucks around and the Tesla cars are everywhere here. I wondered about the challenges of those body angles. Problem solved!
The caribou project might've been lacking in excitement but you can feel good about yours and your friends contributions to science.
 
I didn't want to sound like I didn't enjoy my trip. I did and it gave me a chance to travel with some long time paddling friends. But at nearly 78 yrs of age it was bit too much of a sweat fest for me. I will be avoiding the peak of the summer going forward. And in the few years I have left being capable of tripping in Canada I want to experience that wonderful country with a few more paddling friends.

I will forever be grateful to Uncle Phil of the Wabakimi Project for introducing me to the joys of paddling in Canada. My only regret is that I was just shy of 59 yrs old when I made my first Canadian trip.
 
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