Canada and USA Adventures - Chezannah

[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
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