Crossing Borders

Pulling in under the overhang porch of Canada Customs was a lot like stepping out of the shower. I was out of the rain but I was still soaking wet.

A young customs Officer stepped purposefully towards me. My guess is he was in his mid twenties. Six foot tall, walked with confidence and had a natural athletic build. The kind you get from living an active life style rather than spending hours in front of a mirror pumping iron.

He had an air of authority about him but from the corners of his mouth I detected just a slight smile which said; "Welcome to Canada" and I knew right then this crossing would be a good one.

I can't say every crossing has been smooth. I remember spending 6 hours in quarantine in Detroit, being detained for four hours in Seattle and my bags have been stripped and searched on a few occasions. Looking back over the years I must confess, I have had few problems crossing the 49th parallel.

I would certainly encourage anyone traveling by motorcycle who does not have a criminal record not to hesitate to cross the border in either direction.

The riding opportunities are truly spectacular all the way from the Atlantic to the Pacific ocean.

I wanted to write an easy to read article on what you could expect and do in preparation for crossing the Canada - USA border. I spent a good deal of time on line confident I should be able to quickly get the information I needed for this article, and to provide a couple of links to government websites providing you with a easy and authoritative source of information to refer too.

I was shocked to find the information highway regarding border crossing looks like it is under major construction and all I found was detour after detour. Governments on both sides of the border seem uninterested in making our life easy.

You will find an assortment of private websites offering advice and tips but they seem more interested in attracting you as a tourist then really providing clear easy information on crossing the border. I found one exception, www.necromantic.net/deadparrot/border01.html

Written mostly for American citizens crossing back and forth but well worth reading for Canadians.

Of course if you are patient and diligent you will eventually uncover the information you are looking for but the following guideline I give may save you the trouble. This information is based upon some research and personal experience. That being said please use my comments only as a guideline.

Make sure you double check with the proper government agency any special questions you have regarding crossing the border, including the limits and types of substances you can bring across with you.

Motorcycle.

Make sure you have all documents pertaining to registration and ownership and that all address match up with your drivers licence. Border Officers do not usually ask to see these documents but if they do they must be squeaky clean. They will enter your licence plate into their data bank while you wait at the border.

Custom Officers are always on the look out for stolen vehicles, and bikes people plan to cross border sell. If any flags appear in their data bank they will check further.

If you are driving another persons bike make sure you have a written document signed by the owner stating that you have permission to drive the bike, permission to take it across the border and approval has been granted by the insurance company for you operation of the bike.

Identification.

If you are form the USA you have a few options such as a passport, nexus card or and enhanced drivers licence. If you are Canadian citizen you basically have the same options although availability of the latter two is more difficult in Canada. Truth is this whole thing about Western Hemisphere Transport Documents is somewhat of a mess.

My advice is get a Passport and leave it at that. Make sure you apply several months in advance for your passport because of the hoops you have to go through take awhile.

Transporting Goods

Check for exact details but as a general guideline this should work.

You can have 200 cigarettes or 50 cigars or 2 Kilos of tobacco. I suggest you make sure you have 1/2 or less of that amount and you will have no problems and trigger no bells in the mind of the officer.

Liquor.
I make it a point not to transport liquor across the border, although generally you are allowed a litre of the stuff for your personal pleasure.

Goods in General
Other goods vary in both type and quantity depending upon the direction you are headed and your citizenship. Here is a good general guideline.

If you are out of the country under 48 hours don't bring anything back. If you are across the border for more than 2 days but less than a week (seven days), don't bring back more than $200 worth of goods. If you are away more than seven days restrict your purchases to less than $400.

To calculate time away do not count the day you entered the country but do include in your count the day you are leaving. For example if you entered on a Wednesday and exited on a Wednesday you would have been away for seven days not eight.

Crossing Strategy

When you get to the border it is all about time. The more of their time you waste the less welcomed you are likely to feel.

If you shopped while you were across the border keep your recites organized and purchases so you can produce them easily upon request.

Keep answers short to the point but friendly and polite. Custom Officials are really strong on polite. A hint of sarcasm may cost you your trip. Crossing the border is a privilege not a right. Border Officers have the absolute authority to prevent you from entering their country.

Would you let a belligerent sarcastic jerk into your home? That's why the Americans call it Homeland Security.

One other really important tip, don't lie. I know it sounds obvious but it isn't. I once had a young officer who was very smooth but he deliberately tried to trap me into lying.

I come from a small town and he started by saying he used to play Junior Hockey and has a good friend who lives in my home town. He mentioned his friends name and the name of his wife and described how everyone knows him because he is the hockey hero of the town. He insisted I must know them. Nope sorry I don't. This went on for well over five minutes.

He was very smooth like a professional actor and it was very tempting to say something like; "Now that you mention it I think I do know them."

Wham Bham that would have been the ruin of that trip.

Food

If you have bought an apple or banana for the road don't show up at the border crossing with it. Absolutely do not have any kind of vegetable with you. In the tourist shops you can often get a package of seeds to take home to your favorite gardener, forget it, no seeds. In fact if you have been riding cross country and have weeds caught up in the undercarriage of your bike you may be required to return to the nearest town and wash your bike before being allowed to cross. No I am not kidding.

Medicine and Drugs.
Despite what you may have heard about Canada, it is illegal to enter with marijuana or any other illicit drug. If you have prescription medicines you must have the original bottle in which the pharmacy dispensed the meds. If you keep one of those weekly pill reminder containers that's fine so long as you have the original container and a couple of pills in the container to prove which pills belong to that container.

My Personal Routine.

I never carry liquor, and I seldom purchase anything when traveling. If I do buy somethings I keep all recites handy stapled to a piece of paper itemized and totaled for quick reference. I place all the the goods in one bag on the top of my saddle bag for quick access.

My theory is the less I have to declare the less likely they are to want to go through my stuff and delay me. On the other hand it is just a theory and doesn't always work.

I carry my passport in a see through zip lock bag in my jacket. I never keep it with my wallet of other papers.

I answer all question with fairly short answers but make sure that even if I am freezing wet, I remain friendly, positive and never complain.

For the past twenty years may strategy has for the vast majority of my crossings resulted in a hassle free trip. For the few times I have been inconvenienced at customs it has been a small price to pay for the many trips I have had across the border Riding Iron.

WHy RIde When You're Old

Motorcycles make up less than 1% of the registered vehicles on the road but they make up about 5% (Canadian statistics) of our fatalities. To really appreciate how dangerous these machines are we must also consider how little we actually ride our bikes during the year.

In many northern states and Canada the riding season is about four months of the year. Remove from this the number days you work (unless you are one of the few who bike to work), days of serious rain, family activities, and other responsibilities that keep you off the road. Even in nice weather the bike is often a poor choice if you have to get groceries or pick your mother in law up at the airport.

We put on very few miles on our bikes compared to more traditional forms of travel. Perhaps that's a good thing if you consider the 2004 insurance statistics which claim you are 34 more times likely to be killed riding a motorcycle than traveling in a car, on a mile per mile comparison (U.S.A. statistics).

Younger people get to drive motorcycles and for the most part society looks away mumbling under their breath youth, and they let it go. Not so for us older riders it is not so easy to escape the wrath of our ever judgmental society.

"You're older you should know better; you're acting like an old fool; you're going through manopause"; stop trying to be a kid again."

I have heard them all and many more. Somehow people think riding a motorcycle is for the young but not the young at heart.

I once read a belligerent post on a blog which said.

"We have to get these old farts off their motorcycles. I am tired of jumping out at traffic lights to help them pick up their bikes."

If you are over 50 and ride you know what I am talking about. If you are over 50 and thinking of buying a bike and starting to ride, you are really in for a tongue lashing from almost everyone you know.

So how do you answer the question, "Why on earth do you ride a motorcycle?"

There are many responses you can chose from.

Bikes are more fuel efficient and leave a smaller carbon footprint on the enviorment.

• Bikes lessen the congestion of traffic and help reduce pollution.
  
• Bikes are fun and invigorating.
  
  I love to laugh death in the face.

I am addicted to speed.

The choice to ride is yours to make. You should consider the feelings and opinions of those close to you but ultimately it is your choice to ride or not to ride. If you ride then you better have an answer to the question; Why on earth do you ride a motorcycle at your age:

I offer no suggestion but I will tell you the way I handle the question.

First I always acknowledge to my inquisitor it is a fair question and I will try to explain as best I can. Deep down inside I know my answer is about as helpful as trying to explain to a six year old what it feels like to really fall in love. None the less I try my best to explain that for me riding is a spiritual experience.

Riding is for me a personal relationship between me and my higher power. Some people immediately respond by telling me; "If I want to find God I should go to church."

I explain; "I tried that and found God wasn't home. I soon discovered that on Sundays he prefers to be out riding with me." If they will listen I go on to explain:

"I understand you like to get into your air conditioned, thermostatically controlled well upholstered car and drive to church to find your God. You enjoy sitting in the comfort and shelter of a nice church with a roof over your head and give thanks and offer your prayers.

I prefer to ride my motorcycle, put my life on the line and spend my time with God on his own terms.

A bike doesn't shelter you from the world and let you peak out through a plastic bubble as the unpleasantness of life passes by.

Driving is something you do, but riding is something you live.
When I ride, I get to play one of God's Greatest games it's called "That's Life".

In this game if it rains you don't get to turn on the windshield wipers instead you get wet. If you are driving past a farmers field when he is mucking out the barn you get to share the experience, no air freshener to hang from the rear view mirror.

When God pours out the sunshine you reveal in the magnificent of it's warmth, you don't roll down the window to adjust the temperature. If you get hot you smile and enjoy it, you don't turn on the air conditioner to make it go away.

When the sun disappears behind a cloud you feel the drop in temperature on the back of your neck, I never have to look at the digital display on my rear view mirror. I never need to turn on the radio for a weather update, because my eyes are constantly watching the horizon.

I understand motorcycles are not the only way a person can live life to the fullest, but I have found they are a good symbol of how people choose to live their everyday life. Perhaps that is why in general I have always found other motorcycle enthusiast are among the nicest, most sincre and fun loving group of people I have ever had the pleasure to hang out with.

Simply put; You can live life, or choose to hide from it, each of us are free to make the choice and a true believer in God respects the choice of others.

For me the choice is easy: I would rather live life and die, then die with never having lived my life.










That's the biggest reason why I love Riding Iron.