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Part of the problem is that healthcare is "for profit". Taxpayers cannot and should not, contribute to the exorbitant profit margin of private healthcare. If healthcare were socialized, operated by government for the people, the cost would decrease dramatically and everyone would have access. Once upon a time, public safety was private and for profit. Don't pay the fire service, and they will stand there to watch your house burn because you're not a subscriber. Don't pay the patrol cop, and the cop will stand there as you are being victimized because you're not a subscriber. Even today, in SF, people can still pay for, and recieve, private police service. The rich can, and still do, buy the police. That is where we are now. The cardiologist will watch me die of heart disease, because I can't afford to pay for treatment. The nephrologist will do nothing for my failing kidney if I don't pay. I am not a subscriber. It's a fair market economy. For profit healthcare should be allowed to exist. But that doesn't mean that the government cannot operate a nonprofit healthcare system, like Medi-Care, and make it available to all. Wait, wasn't that what Clinton tried to do?

Oh, that's easy. 33% of our salary goes to "social insurance" (flat tax, plus 1% for unemployment support), which also funds "free" healthcare, which covers most medical needs (apart from extremely expensive treatments such as some new cancer treatments or new surgeries you need to be taken to Switzerland for or something).

Trial run with the adventure van went well . In my design I wanted to leave roolm to put a bike inside easily without having to take a wheel off or lower the seat . That long space also works good for long items like a big tent and . I used the Kuat 4 bike rack most of the time but was happy to be able to put the bike inside for security while hiking or going into town for supplies.

I've been making progress. Over the long weekend I spent time getting my battery cabinet re-built and getting my bike mounts installed. My longest bike (just barely fits!): Got the electrical bits re-installed and tested to ensure everything still works: As you can see, I have a bit of finishing work to do there, but everything is secured down and I'm able to drive the van, which is good because my WRX blew a tire on my way home last Friday! I'm now able to fit both of my mountain bikes inside the van. This helps immensely from a security point of view. It isn't unreasonable for me to be carrying $10k worth of bikes depending on which ones are in there (between the wife and I we have 10-12 fairly high end bikes). On Wednesday, I spent some time test fitting the bed frame. None of this is installed, I'm just sliding it around the floor to make sure everything fits. It should start to look a bit more like the model I posted a couple weeks back. The next task is going to involve coming up with a better way to secure the bed frame so that I can quickly and easily pull everything out. I also will need to rig up some supports to hold up the bits of the bed that flip out into the empty spaces. All-in-all, I'm quite pleased with how things are moving. I've been able to re-use 95% of my lumber. I've only had to spend about $20 in new materials. We leave for our bike trip on June 30th. We'll be carrying 5 bikes in total and planning to sleep in the van 1 night. The bikes riding in the van will re-locate to the roof while we're sleeping. Can't wait!