What do I need to travel US for a year? Visa wise etc.?

Hi, me and a friend are planning on traveling the US (Every state) and was wondering what we would need and how to do it, visa wise and working wise?
We plan on staying in the country for about a year or more, with $50,000 between us, (£25k ish), but if we run out of money, we plan on working, as i am a dock worker and know about working in docks, i figured there will always be a job going in a state, but what do we need to legally work in US? help please!! thanks

Check with the US Bureau of Consular Affairs (http://travel.state.gov/ ) or the local US embassy or consulate (http://www.usembassy.gov/ ), you will need a B-2 tourist visa due to the extended stay you're planning (i.e. more than 90 days). See http://travel.state.gov/visa/temp/types/types_1262.html for more info.

You should forget about working legally in the US, that's more or less impossible - unless you'd like to wait for years for your work permit, or are kind of a Nobel-prize winning scientist or billionaire.

The United States does not issue visas which allow work for casual work, such as a dock worker. If you want to get a Temporary Work Visa, you must be filling a highly-skilled or professional job. So working as a dock worker is most likely an impossibility.

That is the bad news. The good news is, if you are frugal, you should be able to do most or all of a year in the US on that amount of money, especially if you try to keep your lodging expenses down. Do youth hostels (yes, they exist in the US), camp, investigate long term stay hotels and local cheapo hotels, be frugal about transportation (take the bus or low carrier airlines, don't rent a car when you don't have to, when you must take advantage of the weekend rates at low rates.)

You will probably not be able to do Hawaii and Alaska - they are both very expensive and will blow your budget.

Plan on doing this without working.