What Do I Do Now?.
In 1989, Elon Musk took the first small step on Canadian
soil. When he flew away from South Africa, his mother
Maye was so proud her son had become independent. But
while still at Montreal’s airport, the first thing Elon did
was to call his mother. “What do I do now?” he asked.
Elon decided to take the bus from Montreal to Vancouver.
It allowed him to see Canada from the highway while he
could figure out where to go and what to do with his life
in the new country.^327
He traveled to the region where his mother lived before
the family immigrated to South Africa. To find somewhere
to sleep, he visited distant relatives that he never met
before, and to support himself, he worked with various
low-wage jobs. Elon’s cousin owned a wheat farm in Swift
Current, so he began working there. The work consisted
of tending vegetables and shoveling grain. He then moved
to a lumber mill in British Columbia where he cut logs
and cleaned boilers. “You had to put on this hazmat suit
[hazardous materials suit] and shimmy through this little
tunnel,” Elon said. “Then you take this steaming goop and
shovel it back into the hole you just came through and wait
for someone else to put it into a wheelbarrow.”^51
The savings account consisted of only a few thousand
dollars. To be sure that the money lasted, Elon had to con-
serve his resources. He bought large quantities of oranges,