Cross Canada Adventure - With Hounds!

[DarcyL]

My son and his fiance, who live in Quesnel BC, have decided to get married in Sudbury ON. They have two larger dogs that they would love to have at the ceremony but alas the kids are flying. I'm thinking of taking the pups on a cross Canada adventure as a gift to my son and his bride. Has anyone gone from BC to Northern Ontario? I'd be in my Gen 1 R1S Launch Edition. Any tips or sage words of advice would be most appreciated!!

Sponsored

 

[iansriv]

Congrats on your son's wedding. I love the gesture towards your son, his fiancé and the dogs. This is absolutely your decision but, did you discuss it with the dogs? Are they up for a cross-country trip? My family does this on a lot of the vacations but I'm convinced our dog hates it. If you decide to do this, I believe there are a few that have done that trip but without dogs. Not sure if it's any different than with an ICE vehicle. Perhaps a little more planning. All the best!

 

[Epzey]

I looked at driving through Canada in the winter for the challenge but the gaps in charging between western Ontario and eastern Manitoba were close to the limit range-wise. The inbetween L2s at camp spots are closed until mid spring. spring summer you should be okay though. From what I remember the charging Saskatchewan and Manitoba are pretty expensive even for Canada and not particularly fast.

 

[RickRivian]

ABRP.

 

[Cosworth]

ABRP.

Awesome Belly Rubs (for the) Pups?

 

[COdogman]

Not a single photo of a hound in this thread

 

[DarcyL]

One of the critters is in my profile pic!

 

[DarcyL]

Da Hounds

 

[COdogman]

Da Hounds

The one on the left looks like trouble….

 

[mikehmb]

The one on the left looks like trouble….

That's just what the golden wants you to think.

 

[WBScholfield]

My son and his fiance, who live in Quesnel BC, have decided to get married in Sudbury ON. They have two larger dogs that they would love to have at the ceremony but alas the kids are flying. I'm thinking of taking the pups on a cross Canada adventure as a gift to my son and his bride. Has anyone gone from BC to Northern Ontario? I'd be in my Gen 1 R1S Launch Edition. Any tips or sage words of advice would be most appreciated!!

Great adventure. My wife, dog and I drove from Whistler to Toronto twice last year in our Gen2 R1S (we've also done it twice in a Tesla Model Y). We're lucky that our dog loves it. Lots of fast charging options (at least in BC and Southern Ontario), but the on-board route navigation system defaults to Tesla fast chargers (and sometimes that's all there is, especially in the prairies and Northern Ontario). We chose to pay the monthly fee to join the Tesla charging club as it reduces the charging costs (and cancelled it once we got home). Saved significant $, we think. Nice to find hotels/motels along the way with Level 2 chargers, but most have outdoor 110v outlets to get a few kms overnight. To liven things up a bit on our last trip, we set out to find the best cinnamon bun along the route. Enjoy your trip.

 

[gregwolf]

First off congrats on the upcoming wedding!! I retired in September 2025 and gifted myself a driving trip through the eastern part of CA in my R1T Dual Large Gen 2. The driving route was roughly New Jersey --> PEI --> Nova Scotia --> New Jersey. The trip encompassed over 3,100 miles in just under three weeks.

TLDR - I did not encounter a single hiccup with either R1T reliability or charging!

Before departing I was getting a lot of raised eyebrows about whether taking such a long trip from the US to CA in an EV was really wise. My biggest concern was charging (no surprise). I did my research as best as I could and determined that between compatible Tesla and various CA-based charging spots I should be ok. So I took a leap of faith and took off.

Driving from NJ to the CA border of course was no issue; I was able to leap frog RAN and Tesla charging points right to the CA border. However, my first lesson is that I quickly learned that there are very few Tesla charging points in CA. However, what I found is that the CA-based charging infrastructure is much better than the US-based charging infrastructure. I was very pleased to find many different charging options along my route. In fact towards the end of my trip I rolled into a B&B only to find a Tesla Level 2 charger that guests could use!

My biggest challenge initially in the trip is that I had to create new CA-based charging accounts to allow charging. This process was really easy and once done I was able to charge super easy. Since you already live in CA you may already be set up with the necessary accounts.

The Rivian navigation was a complete life saver! At the beginning of each day I would put in a target destination and then let Rivian tell me where I could charge along the way. I was very impressed with its accuracy.

On a final note I would suggest signing up for something called Rivian Roamer. The site is tired between free and paid subscription. I decided to use the paid subscription. The value of the site is that it gives tremendous information about YOUR specific vehicle and your driving efficiency, which should be very helpful for you on your trip. Just food for thought.

Bottomline - go for it and enjoy your journey

 

[Rivian Roamer]

First off congrats on the upcoming wedding!! I retired in September 2025 and gifted myself a driving trip through the eastern part of CA in my R1T Dual Large Gen 2. The driving route was roughly New Jersey --> PEI --> Nova Scotia --> New Jersey. The trip encompassed over 3,100 miles in just under three weeks.

TLDR - I did not encounter a single hiccup with either R1T reliability or charging!

Before departing I was getting a lot of raised eyebrows about whether taking such a long trip from the US to CA in an EV was really wise. My biggest concern was charging (no surprise). I did my research as best as I could and determined that between compatible Tesla and various CA-based charging spots I should be ok. So I took a leap of faith and took off.

Driving from NJ to the CA border of course was no issue; I was able to leap frog RAN and Tesla charging points right to the CA border. However, my first lesson is that I quickly learned that there are very few Tesla charging points in CA. However, what I found is that the CA-based charging infrastructure is much better than the US-based charging infrastructure. I was very pleased to find many different charging options along my route. In fact towards the end of my trip I rolled into a B&B only to find a Tesla Level 2 charger that guests could use!

My biggest challenge initially in the trip is that I had to create new CA-based charging accounts to allow charging. This process was really easy and once done I was able to charge super easy. Since you already live in CA you may already be set up with the necessary accounts.

The Rivian navigation was a complete life saver! At the beginning of each day I would put in a target destination and then let Rivian tell me where I could charge along the way. I was very impressed with its accuracy.

On a final note I would suggest signing up for something called Rivian Roamer. The site is tired between free and paid subscription. I decided to use the paid subscription. The value of the site is that it gives tremendous information about YOUR specific vehicle and your driving efficiency, which should be very helpful for you on your trip. Just food for thought.

Bottomline - go for it and enjoy your journey

Thanks for the shoutout! And just adde da whole page dedicated to efficiency including breakdown by driver profile so now you can have ... discussions with your significant other.

https://rivianroamer.com/releases/efficiency-trends

 

[DarcyL]

Great adventure. My wife, dog and I drove from Whistler to Toronto twice last year in our Gen2 R1S (we've also done it twice in a Tesla Model Y). We're lucky that our dog loves it. Lots of fast charging options (at least in BC and Southern Ontario), but the on-board route navigation system defaults to Tesla fast chargers (and sometimes that's all there is, especially in the prairies and Northern Ontario). We chose to pay the monthly fee to join the Tesla charging club as it reduces the charging costs (and cancelled it once we got home). Saved significant $, we think. Nice to find hotels/motels along the way with Level 2 chargers, but most have outdoor 110v outlets to get a few kms overnight. To liven things up a bit on our last trip, we set out to find the best cinnamon bun along the route. Enjoy your trip.

Thank you so much for your reply and great info! I did not know about the Tesla charging club so I will def check that out. And the cinnamon bun contest .....

 

[DarcyL]

First off congrats on the upcoming wedding!! I retired in September 2025 and gifted myself a driving trip through the eastern part of CA in my R1T Dual Large Gen 2. The driving route was roughly New Jersey --> PEI --> Nova Scotia --> New Jersey. The trip encompassed over 3,100 miles in just under three weeks.

TLDR - I did not encounter a single hiccup with either R1T reliability or charging!

Before departing I was getting a lot of raised eyebrows about whether taking such a long trip from the US to CA in an EV was really wise. My biggest concern was charging (no surprise). I did my research as best as I could and determined that between compatible Tesla and various CA-based charging spots I should be ok. So I took a leap of faith and took off.

Driving from NJ to the CA border of course was no issue; I was able to leap frog RAN and Tesla charging points right to the CA border. However, my first lesson is that I quickly learned that there are very few Tesla charging points in CA. However, what I found is that the CA-based charging infrastructure is much better than the US-based charging infrastructure. I was very pleased to find many different charging options along my route. In fact towards the end of my trip I rolled into a B&B only to find a Tesla Level 2 charger that guests could use!

My biggest challenge initially in the trip is that I had to create new CA-based charging accounts to allow charging. This process was really easy and once done I was able to charge super easy. Since you already live in CA you may already be set up with the necessary accounts.

The Rivian navigation was a complete life saver! At the beginning of each day I would put in a target destination and then let Rivian tell me where I could charge along the way. I was very impressed with its accuracy.

On a final note I would suggest signing up for something called Rivian Roamer. The site is tired between free and paid subscription. I decided to use the paid subscription. The value of the site is that it gives tremendous information about YOUR specific vehicle and your driving efficiency, which should be very helpful for you on your trip. Just food for thought.

Bottomline - go for it and enjoy your journey

Your thoughts and advice are truly appreciated! I am indeed already signed up for the Canadian charging accounts including the Tesla network. I am also well a Rivian Roamer follower so will check out the paid subscription.

Sponsored