Telus Mike phones have a setting on them where you can set them to work like walkie talkies and you won't use airtime. Just go through the menu and you will find it. Also a cheap radio shack radio with a magnet mount would work fine for what you want. Unless you spend a lot of money you probably won't get much further than a couple of miles. Good luck. P.S if you are going to buy something try one of the truckstops after you cross the border. eg. T/A truckstops,Pilot Truckstop, Flying J,Loves. All have websites with locations.