Google Map API BackBoneJS Unable to read offsetWidth 'null property

I went through as many StackOverflow / google groups as I can imagine trying to understand this guy.

I am using BackboneJS to render a map with a starting location and ending location. On a new page / page refresh, I do not get this error, and the map and everything works fine, because I use the jQuery function $ (window) .load (.....); however, when I dynamically render my view, I get this error, I suppose, because the DOM has not loaded the DIV yet (crash with document.getElementById). I tried all kinds of methods other than $ (window) .load (), but I can’t get anything that works for both use cases (new page loading - loading BackboneJS). Trying to call a function immediately after the template does not work.

Any help would be appreciated.

Robert

View:

    App.Views.MapShow = Backbone.View.extend({
      initialize: function() {
        _.bindAll(this, 'render');
        var self = this;
        $(window).load(function() {
          self.renderMap();
        });
      },

      render: function() {
        this.renderTemplate();
      },

      renderTemplate: function() {
        this.$el.html(JST['path/to/show/file']());
      },

      renderMap: function() {
        var from     = this.model.get('location_from');
        var to       = this.model.get('location_to');
        var geocoder = new google.maps.Geocoder();
        var map      = new google.maps.Map(document.getElementById('mapCanvas'), {
          mapTypeId: google.maps.MapTypeId.ROADMAP
        });
        var directionsService = new google.maps.DirectionsService();
        var directionsDisplay = new google.maps.DirectionsRenderer();

        directionsDisplay.setMap(map);

        var request = {
          origin: from,
          destination: to,
          travelMode: google.maps.DirectionsTravelMode.DRIVING
        };

        directionsService.route(request, function(response, status) {
          if (status == google.maps.DirectionsStatus.OK) {
            directionsDisplay.setDirections(response);
          }
        });
      }
    });

HTML:

    <div class="map" id="mapCanvas"></div>