After 18 months of living in South and Central America, we have crossed into the United States of America.

We were prepared for some reverse culture shock as we moved into a country more like our own: paying higher prices for everything, “pumping” our own “gas”, putting the toilet paper into the toilet again and communicating in our mother tongue. But as reassuringly familiar as some things are, there are still aspects of American life that are as confounding as entering a foreign culture.

Here are some key differences impacting our life on the road since entering the USA:

Motorcycle culture

Our motorbikes are still attracting a lot of attention but for different reasons. In South and Central America, 250cc motorcycles were big compared to local bikes; up against the standard American bike (usually a massive Harley) they look tiny.

Some riders don’t know what to make of us on our little tinker toys, but most will strike up a friendly conversation. Our travel tales are invariably met with incredulous stares, followed by howling laughter: “You’re kiddin’ me. You’ve done all that on a two-fifty?”.

Highways through major cities in the USA have carpool lanes where any vehicle with two people or more (including the driver) are entitled to drive the less congested lanes. Roadside signs advertise a carpool hotline to match you up with travel buddies. No such encouragement was necessary in Latin America where every spare inch of the car or pick-up was crammed (inside AND outside) with as many people or things as possible.

Camping culture

There is a strong camping culture in the USA, but we soon found out that not all “campgrounds” will accept tent campers. Sounds ludicrous, right? Not in the land where the RV is king. The highways are full of these huge rigs (often the size of a bus) that can also be towing a 4WD, boat and/or trailer. Once they are parked for the night, often they have side walls that pop out to increase their size. We looked up the floor plan for one common model to find it had two bathrooms!?! This paradise on wheels could be yours for a mere US$295,000.

In order to accommodate these vehicles, some campgrounds are more like car parks, providing full hook ups, internet and cable TV channels, but no grass, trees or views….except of the neighbouring RV of course.

We wonder how some RVers are getting away from it all when they seem to be taking it all with them.

Road tripping culture

Road tripping is big in the USA. It is the first time we have seen so much of the local population out on a day trip or longer, for pure pleasure, in vehicles that are more about fun than practicality (convertibles, vintage cars etc).

We expected impatience, road rage and carnage on the roads in the USA, but found  motorists to be law-abiding, patient and polite. After 5,000km of USA riding, I have only seen one car cross a set of double lines to overtake. It is one of many such practices that we have seen regularly performed in other countries we’ve been through.

We are loving the abundant and accurate road signage, although some of the warnings are overzealous.  Here, every minor road surface problem, possible obstruction, curve, widening or narrowing road warrants a sign. There are even signs about upcoming signs. Given that these obstacles are standard down south, we wonder what a driver from Bolivia or Guatemala would make of all these warnings.

Food

When it comes to food, higher prices have meant more self-catering and picnics so we can meet our budget. We were alarmed in San Diego when a large shopping mall didn’t sell any fresh produce – not so much as a tomato or apple. There was an incredible range of microwave dinners to marvel at though. A staff member directed us down the interstate some kilometres to another mall where she was sure she’d seen this kind of thing being sold before. Fortunately, this experience was an anomaly for us and we have found plenty of fresh food since.

Coffee, however, is not a problem to find but we are baffled by the concept of bottomless coffee or free refills. This in itself is not so mysterious, except that they will still sell you cups in three different sizes for different prices. Free refills still apply. They don’t even mind when we both share a single small coffee and refill it many times 😉

People

We have saved the best for last: the people. Sharing a common language has deepened the connections we have made with the people we’ve met along the way. We have been stunned by the generous hospitality we have received from strangers and new friends. We only hope that we can repay this someday at our home in Sydney.

Our odyssey overland is adapting to this new, American style: whether they be quirky, frustrating, good sense or enriching, it is the differences that make the journey such an experience.

Photos and captions are below and more are in our gallery here.

After 18 months of attendants filing our tanks, we’re back to doing it ourselves. We’d forgotten how to do it.

The customary wave from oncoming bikers. This replaces the head nod in Australia (you can’t wave in Australia as driving on the left would mean dropping your right hand off the throttle).

All ready for a holiday getaway. This RV is towing the family 4WD.

Sometimes a RV campground will save some prime sites for tent campers. This overgrown site was next to the commuter train that ran from 4am to 9pm at night. Ahh the serenity!

One campground provided this “sink” for washing dishes. It was also where RV users could empty their toilets. Lovely.

Lost in translation. It was hard to determine when this toilet block was closed for cleaning.

The bear locker! These provide essential safe storage for campers not travelling with lockable vehicle storage.

Are you serious? We had to re-align our idea of what a good and bad road was.

We saw this sign everywhere but rarely could we identify an extraordinary risk.

Nanny state?

We thought about saving our cups for tomorrow but someone beat us to it.

Hmm, the pistol you bought at Walmart might have a “potential safety problem”….

We met on a rooftop in Mexico and, two months later, were warmly welcomed into Loren and Myrle’s home in Astoria, Oregon.

We met Dan in the Mt Hood Information Centre and he invited us to have dinner with him and his wife Connie. They then offered us a room for the night on their blueberry farm.

Fi with Wendy, one of our new friends in Snohomish, Washington.