Canada and USA Adventures - Chezannah
 

Hey lads and lasses :):)

Nice to meet you all!

We are hoping to head over to the West Coast of Canada and the states from July to explore for maybe 4 months.

Our dream is to fly into Seattle, buy a couple of bikes, ride north into Canada before coming back down the West Coast to California and then across to Florida, where Chez's sister lives.

We are really hoping you guys can help us out with some questions to start our planning:

1. USA Canada border crossings - Anyone have experience of crossing the border into Canada and back with American bikes and British passports? Hoping it is fairly easy :yes:
2. Saving money - We only have a small budget and want to make the most of it :) Do you lot have any help/ideas on money saving options for accommodation etc - we have thought of 'bunk a biker', 'Motorbike Women' and 'Work Away' but if there are any other resources to help us keep riding longer and seeing more we would be very grateful
3. Bike purchasing - We hopefully have a permanent address that we can register the bikes in either Florida or Utah, but are looking for bikes to buy, any advice would be brilliant: suggestions for places to buy bikes near Seattle (private sales or trade?); good budget; anything else to consider?
4. Bike insurance - We've heard that Progressive insurance is a good option, but it seems to be pretty expensive for us. Do you lot know of any other suggestions?

Looking forward to hearing from you and thank you in advance for any help!

Chezannah

Bunk a Biker is a good option. I've been following Bunk a Biker for more than a year now, though I have to admit that I haven't used it. I used other very similar options and have met some great people. Be aware that in the US, Bunk a Biker is populated by a lot of cruiser riders. Nothing wrong with that. They're good people; they're motorcyclists too. They'll welcome you for sure. But it's a different lifestyle. And I'm making a broad generalization, but a lot of cruiser folks tend to be on the conservative side politically. Again, nothing wrong with that, but you might be a little surprised. It's a good way to learn about the people in the US.

Are you a camper? iOverlander has some wonderful places to set up your tent, particularly in Western US and Canada.

And of course, couchsurfing. I used to use couchsurfing quite a bit, though I haven't now in a few years. Met some cool people that way.

I'm curious what you think is expensive for insurance. Insurance is expensive in the US. Progressive is a good company. I'm with a different company. I think my insurance is about $400 per year. Motorcycle insurance here is usually only sold in six-month or one-year blocks.

When I was insuring a bike in the US a few years ago Progressive were the only company that would cover foreign licence holders, it did seem expensive compared to the UK but you got to choose your level of cover depending on the regulations in the state your acommodation address was in.

Cheers guys, this is useful info

Jamie Z - we hadn't thought much about the types of people we would be meeting along the way, so thanks for this. Coach Surfing hadn't really crossed our minds so thats a good suggestion. We will be bringing a tent with us too, just in case. What are the rules around wild camping? Assuming it is different between the states. Been keeping an eye on the free camping post and there is some ace resources on their too.

Mark - We will have a bit more of a look around on insurances, I think there are a few more now, but people do tend to signpost to Progressive, heard quotes of around $400 a month :( Did you buy a bike in the states? Easy?

If you haven't already used it, iOverlander has a great database of free places to camp in western Canada and the US. I went through that area this past summer.

Rules are pretty varied. There is a lot of federal land, and generally speaking you can camp anywhere on federal land unless it's specifically forbidden. (This does not include National Parks, which are a completely different thing). The rules are that you have to be a certain distance from the road, can't be near a water source, and things like that, but by and large, you can just look for any open spot and put up your tent. In my experience, nobody will ever bother you. If you're in a somewhat remote area, you'll more than likely pass numerous spots where people have camped before. You'll see the fire rings, and possibly other folks out in their campers and vans.

I don't use campgrounds a whole lot, but there are numerous options for those, as well. In state parks, national forests, and some privately run.

Check out ‘tigger RTW’ they have a detailed breakdown of finances for travelling through US and Canada.
They camp a lot in national parks, which are cheap.

Have you done any medium/long travelling before? There are some general tactics that can be used in all countries, but don’t want to teach grandma how to suck eggs bier

I did the US into Canada on a US bike with a UK (Irish) passport thing a few years ago. We went into Canada at Niagara and back into the US on route 173 from Quebec into Maine.

Both border officials picked up on the US registered bike + European passport issue and wanted to know how I was doing that and where was the paperwork to support it. It took about an hour to get through it all at the Maine border - although as there was almost no other traffic it may have taken a bit longer than usual. As it happened we were ok because although I'd bought the bike the paperwork was in my friend's (a US citizen) name. I was on his insurance policy as a named rider.

I know there are some states where foreigners can register vehicles themselves but I don't know specifically which ones. It was a lot harder getting back into the US than it was getting into Canada.

Great that it was all doable, I am not surprised to hear that it took longer to get back into the states than leave it, but as long as you manged it I don't mind. Were you required to contact the friend who owned the bike during the process? I would be interested to know what paperwork they wanted to see.

This is exactly what we intend to do. We both have family in the US so were going to purchase the bikes in their names and then figure out how to insure them, needless to say none or our family members ride bikes - I have so many questions about this so I feel like I would need to buy you a drink before asking them all! Let me know if you would be happy for a flurry of questions. Couple of bigger ones:

1. Does the person whose name will be on the paperwork need to be present when you buy the bike? (my friend's sister lives in Florida, my uncle lives in Utah and we want to buy bikes from as close to Seattle as possible!)
2. Did you buy from a dealer or privately? Is there a benefit to one over the other?
3. As mentioned, none of our family ride so we may need our own insurance policy, did you explore this option before opting as a named driver?

I really appreciate your help!!

This is a brilliant reference, thank you so much!! I have just started following them both too, what a fantastic couple!

I have travelled through Vietnam on a motorbike about 8 years ago, but that was incredibly different, I just bought a bike in Ho Chi Minh and began to ride north, I am not sure I did anything properly. I am also a complete sponge for knowledge at the moment as we are still trip planning, so would value all 'general tactics' very highly.

I wonder if grandma's really are as good as people at sucking eggs :huh:

A few years ago we had a 3 week holiday in the western US. We shipped our bikes over, did 5K miles in 3 weeks, through 6 states and saw loads and had a great time. I don’t think that itinerary would be fun in Europe but the US is empty with very little traffic compared to Europe so 4 months should be ample.
I mention this because of the old adage ’the slower you travel, the cheaper it is’.

I don’t like giving advice because everyone is different but this is what we do on our yearly 4/5 week holidays in Europe.

We camp, although if the weather is horrendous we’ll rent a cabin or caravan for the night - unfortunately the rise of ‘glamping’ has made this option very expensive in Western Europe so a room in a house is often a lot cheaper.
One of the main advantages of camping is that you can buy and cook your own food which saves you a lot of money. So, even if we’re somewhere that a room is the same price as a pitch (eg Balkans) we’ll pitch.

A typical trip looks like this:
We will travel on small roads (motorways/autobahns eat up petrol). We stop and buy sandwich ingredients (not ready made) and fruit around midday then stop at the next attractive place for a picnic. There will be stuff left over, cheese etc for tomorrow. We drink water from our camel backs - I believe these are a must.

We usually stop around 3pm for a coffee - usually in a cafe but occasionally brew our own if we are somewhere remote.
We will start looking for a campsite around 5pm - they’re plentiful in Europe. We prefer council or farm sites, rustic and cheap.
After pitching we will wander into the nearest town and buy ingredients for dinner and a cheap bottle of local wine. We will also have one beer in a bar.
In the morning we will have porridge and coffee, which we carry with us, then strike camp.

We travel like this for around 3 days, stopping at places that we want to visit then we’ll settle somewhere for 2/3 days - obviously somewhere that warrants a stop. We can greatly reduce our spending when we stop: at least 1 day no petrol, then we’ll use 1 bike for visiting/ local trips. At least 1 day just lying in hammocks.
Then we move on.
For us, things that use up most money with little return is eating and drinking in restaurants and bars. Lunch is cheaper than dinner in restaurants so we very rarely have an evening meal in a restaurant - special place or occasion only. Lunch can be a good, large cheap meal in some countries so we might stop for one occasionally then we just need a snack in the evening.

I think the US and Canada are comparable to Europe so take from this what you will.
We are hoping to ship into the Eastern Seaboard in September and head south.
Enjoy your trip
bier