Hello
Travelling from Toronto to Calgary, starting towards the end of April. Riding a Honda XR650.*Looks like I will have to drop down into the States and take the more southern route because of the weather.*Interested in any trips and tricks, camping apps, cheap places to stay, and any sort of must dos along the route.*What happens at the border. Advice appreciated. Thank you

Wait a few weeks. Avoid going south...too much trouble and or potential for trouble...

The weather is infinitely variable, especially during shoulder seasons like April. You could run into high winds and deep snow no matter which route you take (as far south as Nebraska/Colorado/Wyoming, in my direct experience), so dropping a bit to the south is no guarantee of anything in particular. Last April I drove the Trans-Canada from New England to Minnesota and saw nothing but clear, dry pavement the entire way, with daytime temps in the t-shirt range. The Dakotas, Wyoming and Montana were similar as, I assume, were the prairies and Canadian Rockies. My suggestion would be to leave enough slack in your schedule just in case, and base your route on current weather reports when the time comes—no more than a couple of days in advance.

The issue of entering the US is, if anything, more difficult to predict than the weather. You don’t state your nationality, nor anything about how you might appear to US border guards: Do you attend many protests? Write feature articles for bombmaking journals [<—attempted humor)? Or even, teach classes about the rule of law, as its known, gender or political issues? Etc. I am not trying to discount the uncertainties of what’s been happening, nor to deny reasonable anxieties; I do think you can decide about the relative risks and act in ways likely to minimize them according to your own rational process or whim.

These days I feel the need to add that declining to enter my country as an act of protest is a reasonable and widespread practice. I’m not going to get into a political discussion here, but it’s a choice that some are making—and some are not. Neither decision is inherently shameful.

Hope that’s helpful.

Mark