When your truck goes through the ice on Lake of the Woods at the Canadian border, that’s how! Listen to the accent in the commentary for added fun! 
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Peter and Betsy Wuebker are location-independent professionals who share what they know about travel, simplicity and integrating work with life. 
Classic!
Hi Betsy .. that’s horrific! What an environmental disaster? Obviously – that didn’t impress me! Ridiculous .. sorry .. presumably the rest of the ice is dangerous too? So can’t understand why the other trucks are there .. are they escaping acros the border?
Just love the spring flowers and let the Lake get its water back .. have a good week going into Easter – Hilary
.-= Hilary´s last blog ..Chess, one of 100 objects, Northern Sea Trading Routes, India and Persia … =-.
Hi Hillary: The ice was safe but this idiot drove his truck into one of the pressure ridges which has open water. In this case, it appears that the open water was about 5 feet wide.
It is an environmental issue to be sure, but it is not unheard of in Minnesota. By law, the owner must retrieve the vehicle and insurance does not pay. As this was 6 miles out on the lake, you can bet this guy has learned an expensive lesson.
He will be anxious to get it out while there is still thick ice and they can drive out for the recovery (Cheaper than renting a barge). Thus, environmental damage will be very small.
.-= Pete´s last blog ..How Can You Tell It’s Springtime in Minnesota? =-.
Hi Pete .. glad to know that .. what a twit!! As you say perhaps he’ll learn his lesson?! Actually we had some equally idiotic chap here do the same thing on a canal .. trying to avoid the backed up jams of cars stuck in the snowstorms .. thought it would be a neat overtaking trick?! Not sure what happened to him ..
I wrote a post on the 11 cities skating tour in Holland this year, which didn’t happen despite our cold winter because the thickness of the ice needs to be 15cm thick all along .. there’s a Wiki ref to it: in case anyone’s interested …
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elfstedentocht
and my post is
http://positiveletters.blogspot.com/2010/01/bet-on-eleven-cities-tour-or-winter.html
which came about from Wilma mentioning it & I thought I’d investigate ..
I remember skating on some largish local ponds as a kid .. and being somewhat anxious .. but that was 62/63 and the weather was positively frozen, let alone freezing ..
Thanks for the extra info – appreciated & glad there are laws in place for that kind of infringement on nature. All the best – Hilary
.-= Hilary´s last blog ..Chess, one of 100 objects, Northern Sea Trading Routes, India and Persia … =-.
Hi Hilary – Just a few more interesting items that are “common knowledge” in these here parts (well, actually living around Lake Minnetonka – a large Twin Cities area lake – where this happens frequently, it became common knowledge to me).
As Pete says you can always count on some idiot who ventures out too soon, too late, or into open water – sometimes with tragic results. If your vehicle goes through and you do not retrieve it within the prescribed legal timeframe, the fines are pretty excessive, and they are levied on a daily basis. Wait a week and it may cost you several thousand in fines on top of your extraction cost, depending upon the body of water and municipal authority. It’s safe to say this guy’s out at least $30,000 what with the replacement cost on his truck – presuming it was fairly new, any fines, and extraction costs. He was six miles out on Lake of the Woods. The Canadian border runs through that lake; presumably he doesn’t have to deal with the authorities of another country, just Minnesota, but it’s hard to tell. They’ll have to locate his truck – which may not be directly below the opening if there is any water movement, winch it out of the water with a wrecker/tow truck, and then it’s going to have to be assessed for recovery/repair. If the air temperature is cold, all that water in every crevice of that truck is going to freeze quickly. You can just imagine.
People drive on the ice for recreation – fishing, partying and even racing cars and snowmobiles – here in the winter. Entire villages of semi-permanent fishing shanties, some very luxurious with kitchens and bunkbeds, etc., spring up. If you’ve seen the movie “Grumpy Old Men” you’ve seen one. (Those scenes were filmed in one of the bays of Lake Minnetonka).
The ice needs to be more than 12″ thick to support a car, and 15″ to support a truck: http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/safety/ice/index.html That being said, thickness variation can occur because of many different conditions. Common knowledge again: drive on the ice with your windows all the way down (escape hatch).
One of the weirdest experiences I ever had was one year when the ice was clear instead of frosty. Even though it was 24 or so inches thick, you could see the water below and the subsurface cracking. I don’t mind telling you that creeped me out big time.
Here is a link describing an annual on-ice festival in Northern Minnesota close to our cabin that we regularly attend: http://www.midwestweekends.com/plan_a_trip/touring/festivals/walker_eelpout.html
Oh, and Pete knows about pressure ridges. Especially trying to drive a snowmobile over one without knowing what’s on the other side. That story is best over a few drinks. :-X
Finally, check out Bryan Hansel’s site. In this article, Bryan talks about winter kayaking along the shores of Lake Superior, which generally remain sufficiently ice-free to paddle, but pose other ice-related risk: http://www.nessmuking.com/articles/kayaks/winter-kayaking/
Hi Betsy and Pete – thanks for all the extra info .. I’ll have a look just now .. a few interruptions here at the moment .. go well – I saw a film recently – based on people trafficking across the frozen lake border in a Reserve – interesting: Frozen River – made in 2008 & directed by Courtney Hunt based on her own screenplay. It was evocative and heart wrending as these type of films are .. but amazing scenery of the frozen lake .. it had a ‘good’ ending ..
Bye .. for now! Good to know .. I’ll see your ice festival etc I think I’ll come visit in high summer?! Have a good week .. Hilary
.-= Hilary´s last blog ..Chess, one of 100 objects, Northern Sea Trading Routes, India and Persia … =-.
Hi Pete and Betsy .. interesting fish festival .. sounds fun. The eelpout – I thought might be like a lamprey, an 11th century delicacy – recently found again in the Thames here – has to have exceptionally clean water .. see my post of 5th June 09 – but it’s not nearly as nasty looking, sounds similar to the lamprey, which is ugly!
The kayaking post – is so interesting to read .. re the care needed etc – definitely now prefer summer – but can see how wonderful it must look ..
Thanks for the info .. Hilary
.-= Hilary´s last blog ..Chess, one of 100 objects, Northern Sea Trading Routes, India and Persia … =-.
“Idiots on Ice” — a new reality show coming to you!
.-= Lori Hoeck´s last blog ..Gaslighting, is someone using this trap on you? =-.
Oh boy! Well… they say about the Chevy that it’s “like a rock”. Sorry, this isn’t funny for this guy. As nuts as he was to get into this situation, I feel bad for him losing his truck. I too was wondering what the other trucks were doing still parked there, until I read Pete’s reply to Hilary. I rode in a car that was driving over the ice once. It was in northern Ontario when it was very cold, but I still didn’t feel at ease.
.-= Davina´s last blog ..Beyond the Dysfunctional Family =-.
I would like to add something…. when I moved to Minnesota from Texas, I noticed one thing that happens every Spriug. The whole town smells like dog sh*t for about a day when it all thaws out. All Winter the pooches leave their little “gifts” in yards. Then when the snow melts, there it is!! 4 months worth of it! Peeee yew!
Hi Betsy
Great video… shouldn’t laugh really.
We’ve had a terrible winter in the UK, in fact it’s still pretty bad in Scotland.
Shouldn’t grumble – this puts it into perspective.
Notice your site is called “Passing Thru”, guess that’s what the truck did!
.-= Keith Davis´s last blog ..A helping hand… =-.
And…don’t you wonder sometimes…what people are thinking????
My wife grew up on a lake in northern Wisconsin. Very common for cars/snowmobiles/etc on the lake….and every once in a while…a story something like this….
Lori is right….this could become reality tv!!!
.-= Lance´s last blog ..There Are No Little Things =-.
Hi Betsy and Pete,
I had to laugh at Davina’s “like a rock” comment.
My husband was telling me about when he used to drive up to Prudhoe Bay with his semi and parts of that road are on ice. Just the thought of it made me cringe, but he said he got used to it. Then I saw a show on TV where they had a camera under the ice roads and that scared the crap out of me. I’ll pass on that adventure.
.-= Barbara Swafford´s last blog ..Save Your Best Posts For Later, Or Not? =-.
Hi All – The ice is gone for the most part now on inland lakes, so we’ll have to wait for early winter to see more of these kind of shenanigans.