Die quickly. US Rep. Alan Grayson's comments were a good soundbyte.

U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson, who said late last month that Republicans' health care plans amount to wanting sick people to die quickly, hit the nail on the head.

Of course Republican's would deny this, but fact of the matter is, large segments of the population can't afford serious illness without some kind of subsidy. It's an ugly truth that Republicans kind of sweep under the carpet.

No matter how we paint the pig be it insurance reform, single payer or whatever, serious illness is just too expensive for lower income people. Either the premiums for insurance to cover it are too high or the money just isn't there. Without some sort of "tax the rich" income transfer there's no coverage.

Maybe we should divide the problem of paying for healthcare into two parts. Serious illness and "low end" medical expense.

Private enterprise can cover low end medical things.

Here's where Republican style ideas of health insurance savings accounts might even work. I'm not a Republican, but for low end expense, savings isn't a bad idea. Savings means incentive for staying healthy and also using medical care wisely. It can pay for preventative care, checkups, less expensive prescriptions, minor things like broken arms; even dental care.

Major illness is too expensive. If someone has a catastrophic illness or a long term chronic illness the government usually ends up paying the tab anyway. Serious illnesses are often disabling anyway.

Serious illness basically all but kills the idea of being able to work for a living, let alone paying premiums.

Maybe the government should pay for serious illness and then allow a system of more private solutions to evolve for low end care. Savings accounts and less expensive insurance can cover minor things as well as preventative care.

Medical savings plans do have insurance for catastrophic illness, but even that can be costly. Really, the government should be the catastrophic plan.

Republicans have an aversion to any "tax the rich income transfer," but with major illness it's either that, or go ahead and push the so called "right to life" folks overboard. Advocate "dieing quickly" for folks with major illnesses that couldn't have afforded insurance.

I'm not a right to lifer, but the idea of pulling the plug is repugnant to me also.

Instead of repugnant, call it Republican.

The conflict between right to life and "no tax let the market decide" is glaring.

Hope this contradiction sinks the Republican Party.

Still, some "so called" Republican thinking has a bit of merit. Most healthy and reasonably employed people could still participate in things like affordable insurance and savings plans that would provide access to minor care, but also have incentive to use it sparingly.

If major illness hits, "plan B" has to be subsidy for lower income people.

Put single payer on the table

A friend of mine named Haggrid held this sign at a protest for health care reform. I held the camera.

Yes, single payer would reduce the morass of contradictory claim forms that have to be waded through. I hear maybe 20 percent of doctor staff is there just to deal with the forms.

There's always a side effect to any change, however. What will happen to all those form handlers? Could they be employed doing something else?


Some march signs reflected in windows of Bellingham Herald Building as marchers walked up Chestnut Street. Many signs said, "put single payer on the table." Yes, that would reduce much of the convoluted complexity of contradicting insurance forms that patients and doctors must wade through now.

I think single payer could be very good, but even if it doesn't happen, something needs to be done.

Travel on my 2009 bike tour in the Northwest vicariously

At Othello Tunnels near Hope, BC.

Trip included a short walk to Saturn.

The dream I had a while back

I dreamed that the tallest building in Bellingham had just been built. 30 stories or so, not like anything that's been on the drawing boards so far.

Finished just in time for a recession, but lower floors of condominiums had mostly sold anyway.

On the top floor were two spectacular conference rooms that rented out for big bucks. Weddings, stock broker parties. Folks wanting a spectacular view.

Business was slow so the skyrooms stayed empty most of the time, but the manager was into ecstatic dance. Fun and frolic, like a hippy dance. Also like exercise.

He was able to pull strings and allow ecstatic dance in one of the rooms for minimal cost. Just donation.

Dancing with the view as a backdrop. Playful hippy like dance. Full of energy. Sweaty. Some of the guys went shirtless revealing bodies of joy, light and play. Erotic in a mild sense.

Then, one day, the manager had a worried look on his face. Some big corporation had just booked the other conference room. At the last minute. Same night as our dance.

Would they resent having sweaty dancers as neighbors?

Would they say, "there goes the neighborhood?"

Would they demand their money back?

Who were they? A corporate dinner party? Bankers meeting? Stock brokers convention?

The dance went on, it was too late to cancel. Still we thought dancing days would be numbered if the rooms start getting booked.

Everything seemed as usual until the soundproof "flex-a-wall" between the two sky lounges started to slide open. It reveled who was really on the "corporate side."

A gay porn business.

Models, escorts. People paying big bucks alright. Paying to fondle and photograph nude models. It was business for sure.

The porn company didn't mind having ecstatic dance as neighbors, but I remember thinking that the ecstatic dancers looked sexier than the porn models on the more commercial side of the now combined spaces.

The unlike the dancers, the models were totally nude. Still they looked more artificial and less natural than the dancers.

Then I woke up.

Version one here. See version two also.

The suicide option health plan

There's private options, talk of a public option, how about a suicide option?

The suicide option health plan would most likely be private. It would be a lower cost insurance plan with a low lifetime benefits ceiling. For instance possibly $100,000 lifetime benefits cap. If bills added up to over $100,000 during one's lifetime, the plan would stop paying and dissolve.

A low lifetime ceiling would save money so the plan could offer more affordable premiums and still cover lower end medical expense. Deductibles and co pays could be figured into the plan also.

If no other source of money could be found after the plan dissolves, such as government assistance for instance, and major illness persists, a painless suicide would be recommended.

Laws would have to be changed so suicide could be an acceptable suggestion.

Sounds ridiculous?

Also sounds libertarian.

Just something to ponder? I'm not necessarily advocating this.

I prefer some sort of safety net where income can be transferred from the more wealthy to subsidize a better form of affordable health plan for those who can't afford market insurance rates.

Also, of course, healthy lifestyles and lower medical expenses across the entire population. Otherwise lots of people will have little choice beyond something like the suicide option.

Are we on our way toward some sort of suicide option without intentionally planning it if nothing is done to reform the current system?

Glad the Bush missile plan was dropped

Kudos to Obama for dropping plans to put missiles in Eastern Europe. Now our relations with Russia are improving. Better relations with Russia are more important, strategically, than the shield that those missiles would have provided. That shield of protection against rough missiles from Iran and other places can still be provided from ships at sea.

Meanwhile, better relations with Russia means the biggest country in the world (land area) is more likely to be "on our side," so to speak. Russia is still kind of a fledgling democracy. Not ideal, but better relations with US can help.

Russia could go the "other" way also. It could drift back toward a more dictatorial regime. Trade and communication can, hopefully, strengthen the hands of an open society within Russia.

Even though Russia isn't perfect, by any means, it's a work in progress, like every nation is.

We are still a work in progress.

Russia is, however, important. It's the biggest chunk on that "strategic game board" called Earth.

Maybe we shouldn't think of Earth as a strategic game board, but if that's the thinking we need, Russia is a prize piece.

We need that piece for oil and other reasons. That piece can strengthen our hand in dealing with Iran and other dictatorial states.

The west is still helping to finance the Iranian government; their nuclear ambitions, their military, and so forth. We're buying their oil.

Russia has oil also. Maybe we can buy more oil from Russia and have more leverage in our negotiations with Iran.

Our dependency on oil is a weakness in our strategies.

We could use our oil purchases as a powerful economic tool to push for better human rights in Iran. We can better use it to assist fledgling democratic movements within Iran and other places. If we do that, it helps to be able to boycott their oil, for a short time at least, if need be.

Whatcom County Farm Tour

Lots of healthy looking produce at Bellingham Farmer's Market which was also part of the Farm Tour on September 12.

After the rally for health care reform and then stopping by the market for a snack, I biked out to some county farms that were participating in the farm tour.

Only had time to visit Silver Springs Creamery and Bellwood Acres apple farm. They were near one another south of Lynden.

Many folks were driving to hit all the farms on the tour. Uses a bit of gas. I focused on two and arrived by bicycle.

Sampled ice cream and fresh milk. Tasted apple slices.

Weather was spectacular that day with Mount Baker shining.

Hope most of the people moving to Whatcom County like living in dense urban environments. That way, we can keep the sprawl contained and preserve farmland.

I'm back from my trip which ended at Camp

Queer Camp was another destination along my summer bicycle loop.

Intense, with lots of workshops, dancing, gathering, mingling.

A weekend of gay community in the woods, at a retreat center.

Nice way to end my bicycle tour. People, all scrunched together in cabins, dining hall and so forth. Quite a change after being mostly alone on the road during previous weeks.

Rain was intense also. Seeing the forecast on line, I got an extra large tarp to put over my tent; rather than giving up on my tent and staying in one of the cabins. It stayed mostly dry.

Several carloads of folks from Bellingham came down for Camp. I got a ride back to Bellingham by car. First bike trip that I returned by car. On other trips, I've come back by train, bus or biked back. Our car qualified for the carpool lanes. It was a car full of stories and reflections from Camp.

Now I'm sorting my pictures and stories from both Camp and the rest of my bike tour before Camp.

Everything from the Pullman Lentil Festival to Queer Camp.

Stay tuned. It will take a few weeks to digest things.


Aprox. 3 minutes.

The impressive face of Mossy Rock Dam

Around 600 ft tall. I could just get part of it in this image. Another thing to see on my bicycle tour. Turning the flow of the Cowlitz River into Tacoma City Light. I passed by it on US Highway 12.

Plan to attend Queer Camp over Labor Day Weekend. A group of people from Seattle, Bellingham and other places that rent a conference center in the forest and have workshops, hikes, discussions, yoga, you name it over Labor Day weekend each year.

A few days after that, my current plan calls for taking the train back to Bellingham from Centralia. Heading back to work before too long.

Above Lake Tipsoo

Bicycled over Chinook Pass yesterday. Over 5,000 ft. Looking down on Lake Tipsoo in Mount Rainier National Park. One could also see some of the glaciers on the mountain, but the top was in clouds.

Now I'm back on west side of Cascades for a conference called Queer Camp and another week of vacation. More about the conference later. Also I plan to put more pictures and stories on the web in the next few months after some time for writing and editing.

Chocolate milk stop on my bicycle trip

After a beverage break at one convenience store in lower Yakima Valley, I come out to find my bike surrounded with 3 Yakima County sheriff cars. That store must have had good doughnuts also. Police cars taking a break. They pulled in after me for their rest stop.

By the way, Yakima Valley has great bike paths.

Bicycle and wind power, the Tri-Cities?

Now, in the Tri-Cities of Richland, Kennewick, Pasco. Lots of bike paths through these cities. In the parks, along the rivers, along the freeway.

What is thought of, by many, as the "atomic cities," have many sides. This is home of Hanford Nuclear Reservation, but rolling into Pasco, the horizon is filled with windmills. Wind power dominates the ridge tops.

Maybe not as much energy comes from those wind farms as pours out from The Columbia Nuclear Generating Station, formerly known as WPPS 2 (the only WPPS plant that got off the ground) and the only nuclear power plant in Washington and Oregon that is now operational as far as I know.

WPPS stood for Washington Public Power System which mostly went bankrupt in the 1980s. WPPS 2, now renamed Columbia Generating Station, is the one part of WPPS that's working and, so I read (on History Link dot 0rg), generating around 12% of the electricity supplied by BPA here in the Pacific Northwest. Figures for the year 2000. That is a fairly big chunk of our power.

Why did most of WPPS go belly up?

Many reasons, but I would suggest that natural gas is where the Northwest has turned to beef up it's power supplies as we outgrow our hydroelectric resouce. Natural gas has been fairly cheap and less worry than nuclear; so far at least.

Maybe now, with worry about fossil fuel and global warming, nuclear might look better as long as population and economic growth keep demanding more energy.

Still, wind farms are quite evident on the ridge tops as I biked into the Tri-Cities area.

Wind farms and bike paths seen today.

Government option

In Washtucna, I discovered the motel was gone, but the city park was still there. I took the "government option" of camping in the municipal park. The "private" motel was not an option even though I haven't had a shower in days. The park had camping and was free. Nice willow tree pictured above.

Coming into town, someone directed me to the park. When I said, "I guess the motel is gone" he said, "ya, we burned it down."

Turns out the former owner hadn't kept it up very well and it was full of bugs, spiders, whatever. Then they tried to remodel, add a restaurant or something, but ended up with the building collapsing as they must have removed the wrong supports. Eventually, the debris pile was burned.

Now, the land has a new owner and I hear plans are to (maybe) build a new motel. Who knows when.

So, it was nice to find government option, the town park.

Much of that day, my radio was filled with health care debate as I biked along. I'm in favor of a government option there also.

The burden of shopping

I am not tempted to shop while on my bike trips. Where I'm I to put it all? Pass a lot of promotions on the road. This one by Pullman, WA. Evergreen area.

Now headed west into the country of the great Spokane Flood during ice ages. As the ice melted, a dam burst draining much of western Montana to a torrent over what is now part of Washington. Carved out the Channeled Scab Lands. Now it's a barren landscape of rock outcrops and sagebrush. Last night, I camped at Washtuckna, WA. which used to have The Wagon Wheel Cafe. It's now abandoned. Next major stop, the Tri Cities, home of a supermarket chain called Atomic Foods.

Lentil Festival in Pullman, WA.

Now in Pullman visiting my sisters where I grew up. Got here in time for the Lentil Parade down Main street. Not by plan, but co-incidence, I am here in time for the parade. They grow a lot of lentils in this area along with wheat, peas and so forth.

Lentils; just one more thing to have a parade about. Gilroy, CA. has the garlic festival. Well, in Pullman it's lentils.

Never heard of lentils? I've had them in salads and soups. Had a lentil salad in Palouse, just before getting to Pullman.

First time I heard of the festival was on the radio coming down from Spokane. Then someone at our table watching the parade remarked that she didn't know bicycles came with a radio; like some cars come with factory installed radio. It wasn't there when I bought the bicycle, but I add a lot of things with bungy cords as I tour.


Aprox. 1 minute.

Lush trees and grass at a park in Palouse

That was a few days ago as I biked through Palouse, WA.

Art under the bridge in Spokane, WA.

I should turn off my computer and head to bed so I can ride in the cool part of today. Bike trip continues to bring me new perspectives on everyday things.

Gardner Cave

Gardner Cave up in northeast Washington was quite a tour. My family took a trip there in 1966, or so. Still impressive today as I biked there in 2009.

Few people even know of its splendor.

I also visited Boundary Dam, not far from the cave. Could "knock them both off" within just a few miles.

Next day, the ride to Spokane. 96 miles. I didn't expect to have that long a day, but road construction took me to a different route so I missed the motels in north Spokane. Ended up downtown in good time anyway. Might as well stay downtown. Feel good and enjoy walking around this city. Lots of historic buildings.

My motel is built around a gay bar (Dempsey's Brass Rail). I could go, but I look road worn.

One more night in Spokane and then head for the Palouse area.

Radio telescope near Penticton, BC

Another sight on my bicycle trip. Being into astronomy, I am surprised I didn't know this observatory existed until now. Big radio telescopes in the Okanogan country, not far from Penticton, BC.

Some friends of mine, from Bellingham, were camping near Penticton as I passed through the area. Before they left Bellingham, they told me which campsite to find them at. I found their site and we connected. They took me, by car, to these radio telescopes. Here I am pictured by the large dish. There were several types of antennas at this observatory. Mapping various things in the universe.

CBC Radio talking about Kepler planet hunting mission while I bicycle contemplatively along Kettle Valley Trail in Okanogan Country of BC.


Aprox 3 minutes.

Long hill up west side into Manning Provincial Park

But beautiful. Now I am at a WIFI spot in Princeton, BC. My 2009 bicycle tour continues.

Time for summer bicycle travel again

Takes a long time to climb all the way to Artist's Point at end of Mount Baker Highway on a bicycle, but what a good excuse to spend more time in that great scenery. I had to drink in this beauty for over 5 hours since it took that long just to get to the top from Glacier, WA.

Then the best fish tacos I've ever had at Graham's in Glacier. This two day trip was a great precursor to more cycling planned before autumn. Stay tuned.

Along South Bay bike trail

I'm just getting from point A to Point B. On my bike, there is time to notice stuff like this.




Painted on the side of a building along Bellingham's South Bay Trail route. Near where the alley becomes the trail. I ride a different kind of bike however.

Update. This artwork is still along the trail, but on the side of a large apartment building. The art was preserved and given a new home almost where it was before. It's on the side of a new building.

The two most important things to remember for health care reform

Here are the two big things.

Promoting healthy lifestyles to lower overall cost.

And

Creating a sliding scale system of premiums to tax higher income people and subsidize insurance premiums for lower income people. The "income transfer" component.

A healthier population can mean less burden, cost wise for the entire system, be it public or private. Promote healthier lifestyles in social planning. Bike-able neighborhoods, less smoking and better diets for instance. This will make it easier to extend coverage to more people without bankrupting society.

The other thing to remember is to create a sliding scale system so lower income people can still afford the coverage. This most likely means (no matter how we wallpaper it) income transfer.

Yes, the gap between upper income and lower income people has gotten so wide that universal coverage is no longer possible (or at least no longer probable) unless there is some sort of tax on the wealthy to subsidize the sliding scale for lower income. The tax would probably also hit upper middle class, but it's essential for universal coverage to be a reality.

We already have this "income transfer" to some extent. For instance, hospitals "cost shift" by charging folks with insurance, or the ability to pay, more than the true cost of the procedure. This margin helps to make up for the loss caused by providing uncompensated care to those who can't afford to pay, or don't have insurance.

Since cost shifting is already happening, it could be done more rationally. Low income people often are made to get their care from the emergency room which is an expensive part of the health care delivery system.

If we don't have some kind of income transfer / cost shift, low income people are likely to just be turned away from health care. We could head into an environment of euthanasia for lower income people. At least those who have both low income and high medical expense.

Other aspects of reform can wring savings out of the system, I'm sure.

Things like tort reform, but the two main things, in my opinion, are healthier lifestyles and some kind of sliding scale for premiums.

Dancer crossing

Sign seen near a dance studio. Dancing can be good exercise.

One small step moon walk co-incidence for Sound Transit light rail in Seattle

On the 40Th anniversary of the moonwalk, Sound Transit light rail starts regular operation in Seattle.

40 years after first moonwalk, large telescope will open

Hand it to the Mexicans, Spanish, Europeans, University of Florida and other partners. I think Gran Telescopio Canarias is going to be the largest optical telescope in the world. Inauguration on July 24 2009, just days past the 40Th anniversary of Apollo 11's first moonwalk. Space exploration is still making strides. Continued below.

I kept front page of Spokane Chronicle from the day after "that day" in July 1969. Chronicle has not been published for years, long before the current Internet shakeup of newspapers.

There was some science aboard that moon mission, but nothing as sophisticated as the science pouring in from today's satellites and observatories. Far from turning our backs on space, the news keeps getting more exciting, at least for those of us who follow it.

I remember newscasters talking about 3 experiments that astronauts set up on the moon that day. Maybe there were more, but I remember 3.

Mirrors were placed near the lander to reflect lasers beamed up from McDonald Observatory in Austin, TX. It was to measure distance between the Earth and moon within inches.

Interesting to measure something that far in mere inches. Quite a feat for those days. Since then, the lasers have been improved for more accurate measurement. Maybe those mirrors are still in use, I'm not sure. They were employed for years after 1969.

Astronauts also set up a seismograph on the moon, from what I remember. Or maybe that was later missions? A seismograph to measure moon quakes. Starting to probe the moon's interior.

Then there was that sail thing. Not the American flag. It was another "sail thing." Something like tinfoil which was rolled out to catch solar wind; a mystical stream of particles coming out of the sun.

Quite exciting for science in those days, but still kind of small compared to discovering planets around other stars in our galaxy; for instance.

The science of astronomy keeps getting better as instruments become more precise and "high tech." Amazing discoveries are now being made from telescopes that never even leave the ground. Other observatories are way out in space.

Apollo 11 was a great achievement, an engineering feat and a media event. A giant leap and there are still giant leaps being taken today.

Yes, it was a great step forward and I was riveted to the television, that day, along with the estimated 300 million (pretty impressive percentage as world population was less in 1969) viewers.

It was the summer before my freshman year in high school.

Maybe I was riveted too much to the television as just before Niel Armstrong took his steps down that ladder, our TV went dark. It was a flash and then the screen was dead. No sound either.

A vacuum tube burned out.

I had our TV on all day watching the coverage. The tube just chose that moment to burn out.

Remember vacuum tubes?

If your cellphone used vacuum tubes today, it would probably have to be as large as the Saturn 5 rocket which carried those astronauts to the moon.

With our set down for the count, the family piled into our Rambler Station waggon and headed to the Stevenson's house and another television.

We arrived after the first steps, but still got to see countless reruns.

On an interesting note, Stevenson Dorm complex at WSU in Pullman was named for Mrs. Stevenson's husband who had passed away earlier.


Looking out over Stevenson Complex from an old postcard.

My letter to President Carter's speech writer, 1979

Not long out of college, in spring of 79, I was following energy speeches by then President Jimmy Carter. Thinking that the word "sacrifice" was too negative, I suggested it be replaced by the word "change."

Put a more positive spin on the transition our culture needs to make. So I wrote to Carter's speech writer.

Now it's the 30Th anniversary of Carter's famous malaise speech; the one that never even used that word malaise. It was the speech that pundits gave that label to after the fact.

When I wrote, I suggested putting a more positive spin on the transition we need to go through to save energy. Sacrifice doesn't sound positive enough. Change was my suggestion.

Today, the word transition is used. There's "transition," "transformation," "evolution," "a new world dawning." All that "new age" talk. Bicycle for you're figure and all that fun stuff.

Speaking of a more optimistic future, we've really experienced a technology revolution since those days. Putting a futuristic spin on low energy living.

No more going back to the cave. Ipods (which they didn't have back in 79) are lower impact than automobiles.

Carter's chief speech writer wrote back a nice letter. He said my ideas were good and thought the President would agree also.

This was before the famous malaise speech of July 15 79 that historians are remembering today.

I'm not sure my ideas got through to the President as I think sacrifice was still the dominant theme.

Still I got letters from both James Fallows and Hendrick Hertzberg.

I wrote to Fallows thinking he was the speech writer. This was before Internet days so it was the most recent address I could find at the public library. Some reference book on the US Government, no doubt.

Fallows forwarded the letter so nice reply's came back from both men.

It was spring 1979 before Carter's now famous speech.

Did my letter have an influence on that speech?

Hard to say. Maybe not. The speech was of a type to still inspire the word "malaise" for a label.

Now I wish I'd kept the envelope as the return address simply said;

"The White House."

Planned Parenthood T-Shirt

Someone gave me a free t-shirt from Planned Parenthood to walk with a group of organizations in Bellingham's GLBTA pride parade. A bright pink shirt.

It made a good connection between issues for me. Population, the environment, economics, alternative lifestyles, change, gay rights. So many of these issues and solutions all fit together in my book. Or maybe I should say in my blog.

Is property value in Washington chasing Boeing out of the state?

Local radio talk shows have been buzzing since Boeing purchased South Carolina based Vought Aircraft. Vought is a Boeing supplier and the purchase is said to streamline some production bottlenecks between the two companies.

Purchase also fans the flames of speculation that Boeing may be looking to other areas for development of a new production line.

Boeing slowly leaving the state?

Dori Monson, at KIRO was pointing fingers at state government a few days ago. Taxes, regulations; the normal litany of complaint. Dori has libertarian leanings.

I have a different twist.

Property values.

Yes, Washington State, especially central Puget Sound, is expensive.

If Washington remains economically successful (in the traditional definition of success), we may have to brace ourselves for over a million new residents moving to Puget Sound area in the next decade or so.

Not the fault of government. It's just the price of our kind of civilization. Maybe we've just been too popular.

A friend of mine just moved back to South Carolina where she grew up. In S.C. she could buy a house for under $50,000. Out here in Washington State, it was a struggle to make enough money for house, or even rent payments in her case. She worked at Boeing for a while, but it was a long commute from where she could begin to afford to live. The commute became too wearing.

Anyway, it's fitting together better for her in SC. Job, housing, logistics. She says traffic is getting worse there, however. I don't think I would want to live there, from what people describe.

I'm lucky living in Washington in an affordable niche. The little room I live in is reasonable, but it's not the way most people live.

As for Boeing, who knows what their future plans are. So far it's just clearing up bottlenecks with suppliers, from what I read; aside from the ranting and raving of talk show hosts.

It's not Washington State government, necessarily that prices industry out of our area.

Still, government is kind of a reflection of our society. Washington State is a popular destination. Prices go up. When things get expensive, government gets expensive also. Think how much it costs to buy land for building a new road.

Then we have regulation. With the crush of new people always moving into this state, we have our raft of regulations that are sprung from concerns. We have growth management, storm water runoff, watershed preservation, farmland preservation rules and so forth.

You get the drift. We could "de-regulate," but would we want to?

Then there's the whole union and right to work state issues, but I'll leave that for other bloggers to talk about.

Sure, some regulation is stupid, but there is also a cost to success and a cost to popularity. It's our society, not just our government.

Bike lane also helps protect water resource

This part of North Shore Drive near Lake Whatcom is an innovative road that was recently repaved. Now that it's finished, I decided to ride out there.

It's in our drinking watershed because houses and development have been grandfathered in around the lake for years. Actually over a century.

Idealistically, no one should live in the watershed, but you know. How can they do that?

Next step might be to try and make road surfaces pervious, rather than impervious.

Pervious means rainwater can percolate through. Impervious means water just washes off.

Around the lake, pervious means cleaner runoff. If water can soak through surfaces gradually, it can be filtered. On the other hand, when water runs off a hard surface too quickly it brings more crud to the lake.

Why can't they make the whole road pervious?

Well, I don't know, but my guess is it wouldn't hold up to the pounding of cars and trucks.

Cars and trucks can be awful heavy.

That's where the shoulder (also a bike lane) can come to the rescue. It doesn't need to be so hard since it doesn't normally get as much pounding as the car lanes.

Make the shoulder softer so it can serve as a buffer between the car lane and the surrounding environment.

Another good excuse for a bike lane.

Even the sidewalk can be that new "pervious" stuff.

Another great innovation in planning.

I also rode up onto Stewart Mountain which resides along the north shore of Lake Whatcom. Much of that route is under these ominous looking power lines.

Big inter-tie between power grids of BC Hydro and BPA. Another link between US and Canada.

Lake Whatcom below. Bellingham Bay in distance.

One really hears the hum and crackle; especially from one set of lines.

Power for millions of people passing through our area like Interstate 5. The interstate for electricity?

Happy Fourth Of July. Humming, crackling, booming and sparking. Hopefully not arcing power lines through me.

Ka-blam. I plan to watch fireworks from the top level of a parking garage in downtown Bellingham.