They’re the same the world over. It doesn’t matter if you’re trying to cross from Cambodia to Laos or from Canada to America – border crossings are always trouble. I was simply waved though Canadian Customs with a cheery smile (thanks for having me guy’s – it was a blast) and pulled up a hundred meters later at the US check point. A nice old bloke took my passport and when I said I’d need an entry document for the bike, he said to park up in the shade and come inside to the counter where it would be sorted.

On entering, a young bloke beckoned me over and said he’d only be a minute. He gave me a standard form to fill out and went through the formalities. When he gave me my passport back, I said I would need paperwork to confirm that I’d bought the bike into the US. I had an email from the freight forwarder that Ivan was using and I asked him if he’d like to have a look at it. ‘How about you just tell me what your hoping for’ he said. Oh oh – here we go. I explained that I’d been advised that without document CBP form 7501, I would have troubles shipping out and would be taxed heavily. I needed to be able to prove I wasn’t trying to export a tax free bike and that I had purchased in the US. He was getting very impatient and dismissive (despite my being the only person at the counter) and said don’t worry about it – it’ll be OK. Ivan’s accompanying email to me had said that was ‘exactly’ what I would be told. It instructed me to persist and ask nicely until I got the document. It further went on to suggest that the customs officer would say that was the incorrect form anyway and it wouldn’t do what I wanted it to. You were exactly right Ivan! The officer said the shipper didn’t know what he was doing and that while he’d been asked for this form before, he’d never provided one. If he did, he said with a smirk, it would mean that I was importing the bike into the US and if I wanted to do that, he’d have to charge me tax there and then. He thought this was pretty amusing. I was polite and said the shipper had done this many time before and knew what he was doing. No way – he wouldn’t budge. We were going around in circles and while I kept my cool, he was simply turning into a smart arse. There was no way he was going to give me the paperwork, but he did begrudgingly agree to stamp the entry paper work I had from the Canadians, as well as the Bill of Sale I’d bought as proof of purchase. I asked for some sort of reference no – not a chance. ‘That stamp is the legal proof you bought the bike through from Canada’. I emailed what had happened to Ivan – hopefully what I had was enough. It did clearly do the job, but I could just imagine another bureaucrat in LA saying ‘If ya ain’t got a 7501, ya got nothin’. Time will tell. In Cambodia, Laos and even Thailand, the border guards were blatantly corrupt and just looking to squeeze dollars out of you – and everyone knew it. You resist, refuse, play the game and it’s generally done with good humour. This guy was just mean and had all the power – everyone new that too!

The road out of Porthill was dirt and had pea gravel all the way along it. Here we go again – slippery and loose. Wonder how long this will go for? I pulled into Bonners Ferry (love the names of these towns) to get some US dollars and have a bite to eat. Coming out, I hooked back onto the IDBDR – it was starting at last. I was doing the route backwards – it actually starts in the south, but that obviously wasn’t going to be an issue. The map suggests a bit of bitumen to start off  with (or finish if you’re going the right way up) and it wasn’t until the Kaniksu National Forest loop that I got into dirt proper. This was going through the mountains to Clark Fork and was the worst bit of road that I’d experienced to date. It was the same loose, marble sized gravel but the road was steep, both up and down and corrugated to hell. It was treacherous and really difficult to stay upright. It mean’t being on the pegs all the way throughout, hard work at the best of times. 

After about an hour of this, my worst fears eventuated, again. A sign saying ‘Road closed  4 miles ahead’. Are you serious! It wasn’t worth the extra riding to make sure – the sign looked recent and pretty new. Nothing for it but to turn around.

Could my first day in the US have been any more frustrating?

I backtracked and got to Clarke Fork, a real little backwater, where I fuelled up and tried to buy some supplies. The hole in the wall grocery store was pitiful – mostly selling 100 different types of potato chips and spam. The only vegetables they had were onions, 2 bananas and an apple. I did get a loaf of bread, a packet of bacon (enough for 6 people), a tub of pasta salad (surprisingly) and a bar of chocolate. Hmmmm, not too bad actually. It was a bit weird heading out of town at 5.30 pm and riding into the mountains knowing it was a couple of hundred km to the nearest civilisation. I was intending to have a bush camp, but heading out as evening was coming on just didn’t seem quite right. The roads were right though. At last, some spectacular riding – great quality tracks where I could hook along at a bit of pace. It headed up pretty high, with great views – the best time of day to be riding. It started to get cool as the sun couldn’t get into the canyons and about 7.00 pm I spotted a nice site on Teepee Creek. It had been used before and the forestry service had even dumped a pile of split firewood there.

I did it again. My troubles aren’t when the bikes moving – they’re when it’s stopped! I pulled up, put the side stand down, left foot on the ground and swung the right one over the bike and down. As I put my weight onto it, my foot slipped into a hole covered by grass ….. and down I went. I landed on my shoulder and felt a huge crack. As my head hit the ground (hard), I looked up and saw the bike starting to topple off the side stand towards me. I gave it a shove with my foot while on my back and, thank goodness, it didn’t go any further. I got out of the way and to my feet fast. As I walked around the camp site, it was very uneven and there were holes and ruts everywhere. I just need to be more careful and not be in such a rush! Think I’m going to be sore tomorrow.

Dinner by the fire was great – the pasta, a huge bacon sandwich and half the fruit and chocolate for desert. The same for breakfast – who says you can have too much bacon!

An off-road adventure in Canada and the USA for 2 months on a KTM 1190 Adventure R.

3 thoughts on “Welcome to the USA”

  1. Great reading Dave. It’s good to follow your track and then read about where I’ve seen you were camped a couple of days later when you write up the blog. Funny thing. The day after you left the Teepee Cr camp your track stopped on the dirt road and then finished up about 40M off in the woods! I was glad to see yesterday that you had put in another days riding, proving a Grissly hadn’t bragged you off after all. Y’all take care now.

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