USA & Canada on a Shoestring

Whoa ho! The USA and Canada - the world's third- and second-largest countries - offer heartbeat-skipping moments on the countless miles (or kilometers) stretching from sea to sea. Highlights start in the cities - big-time 21st-century wonders where international communities zip around on well-oiled public transport - and continue in the sticks, where you'll find canyons the color of red fudge, moose sipping from your swimming hole, rocky-top mountains coated in snow and head-butting goats, banjo or blues or rural chitchat on the AM dial, big-buckled cowboys saying 'yup' at fillin' stations and surfers saying 'dude' by the beach, kitschy over-sized cows at stop-offs under big skies the size of worlds, and fresh buffalo hoof-creased blades in tallgrass. The people - a smiling bunch often - ain't bad either.