SaddleSore into Canada

[MotoSailorDC]

I'm considering taking a jaunt through Canada near the mid-point of my future SaddleSore. How much time does the border crossing add? I've only flown into other countries, never driven. What can I expect?

Cheers!

[Slowphil]

All depends on where you try to cross, the bigger crossings can take a long time due to the amount of shipping trying to cross. Smaller ones can be fairly quick, say 10 minutes. For example if you cross at the main crossing at St Stephan, New Brunswick it can be fairly busy and slow but just down the road is a smaller crossing you can get through quickly. Post up where your trying to go.

Cheers

[MotoSailorDC]

Thanks! I'm considering going through the crossing at the end of US I-81 in the Thousand Islands region. Looks pretty traffic free....

[Kenzie]

The thousands island crossing is as many are, much busier on weekends. It is not a commercial artery so most of the traffic is all tourism. I grew up in the Islands and crossed there often, if you hit it during a weekday the line up should be no more than 4 or 5 cars, but during the weekend you are looking at about 10-15 cars at each booth, and imagine a 2-3 minute wait for each car.

[NightShadow]

Also look at the time of day you might be going through - the later day or night it is usually much faster.
I went through in about 2 mins at night.
Don't do it on a long weekend ( Canadian or American )

[MotoSailorDC]

Originally Posted by NightShadow

Also look at the time of day you might be going through - the later day or night it is usually much faster.
I went through in about 2 mins at night.
Don't do it on a long weekend ( Canadian or American )

Ugh - so it looks like that would be a no-go on both accounts? Was thinking of using memorial day weekend for this, and was hoping to get through the passing at around noon-1pm. Guess it's time to think up a different route....

[rdwalker]

Originally Posted by MotoSailorDC

Ugh - so it looks like that would be a no-go on both accounts? Was thinking of using memorial day weekend for this, and was hoping to get through the passing at around noon-1pm. Guess it's time to think up a different route....

I did an overnight run into Quebec this past weekend. Unlike my normal routine, I decided to cross on an Interstate - the traffic was light, I was in no hurry and I wanted to see how the "other ones" do it. On that slow day, there were about 5 lanes open on I-87 entering Canada, each with about half a dozen vehicles waiting. It took about 15 minutes.
In the past, before I switched to routinely taking a side-crossing, I experienced waits on Interstates as long as an hour, especially returning to US (on a bike in the rain!).

Nowadays, I get off the Interstate and take a nearby crossing on a side road - in the case of a Montreal run, typically the Lacolle crossing. Usually there is no more that one other vehicle ahead. The time savings get you way ahead despite the 10-minute detour. Just watch out for sourly US Customs agents - a few years ago, the one at Mooers NY demanded that I justify why I selected that crossing. Conversely, you may get slowed down by too friendly agents: on my return this weekend, I spent quite a while comparing my European travel notes with the very lonely agent in Stewartstown, NH.


In other words, planning is required, time is always lost.


As a bit of a topic hijack: what helmet do you use? I just got a new Shoei Multitec; despite the seemingly good fit on shorter rides, my earlobes were killing me by the end of a 620-mile day on Sunday. Boy, was I missing my old C2...

[MotoSailorDC]

Originally Posted by rdwalker

Nowadays, I get off the Interstate and take a nearby crossing on a side road - in the case of a Montreal run, typically the Lacolle crossing. Usually there is no more that one other vehicle ahead. The time savings get you way ahead despite the 10-minute detour. Just watch out for sourly US Customs agents - a few years ago, the one at Mooers NY demanded that I justify why I selected that crossing. Conversely, you may get slowed down by too friendly agents: on my return this weekend, I spent quite a while comparing my European travel notes with the very lonely agent in Stewartstown, NH.

As a bit of a topic hijack: what helmet do you use? I just got a new Shoei Multitec; despite the seemingly good fit on shorter rides, my earlobes were killing me by the end of a 620-mile day on Sunday. Boy, was I missing my old C2...

Thanks - i'll look around for some sideroad crossings. As for a helmet, I use a CL-14.