4th Feb.

Packed up a soaking wet tent in the rain, patches of flaky ice, winter waterproof gloves, bike gears full of grit and mud, pedalling down the road all bundled up, a bit grim.  Decided that tonight would be another motel night.  Sky clearing mid morning, some welcome sunshine.  Coffee at the next 'Drive-thru' cabin.  I've come to love a good neon OPEN sign. 

Motel in Lincoln City as it was getting dark.  A most peculiar man at the desk.  He misunderstood most of what I said, spoke to me as if I was a child, and was incredibly particular.  Most irritating, but I wasn't sure how many other motel options there would be, so I stuck it out.  Then in the morning, he said 'We don't get many people like you coming through', wanted to see my bike, and waved me off.  He wore braces, and had come over originally from Germany, 'before I was born' - I didn't know what to make of him. 

Watching American TV news is interesting.  One of the suggested outcomes of the new Obama healthcare insurance is that people could work less, and Obama has recently criticised the media, whereas George Bush, 'to his credit' (!), did not.  I've met people who travel to Mexico from Oregon for dental work, and people who have been unable to get health insurance because they have previously been ill - a common cause of not having insurance.  The Obama health reform makes it possible now for people to get insurance, regardless of previous illness, and this is not without controversy.  It also means in the employer/employee relationship, the employer may have less power, as fewer people will be dependent on their work, as a means to get health insurance as an employee benefit, hence one of the suggested outcomes being that people might work less.  Some people already with insurance, are not too happy about premium increases, as they see it as a consequence of opening up insurance to more people.  I saw one question posed on a political/social show, 'Do rich people work harder, and how much of it is opportunity-based?'  These are big, sensitive issues being discussed.
I've so grateful for UK taxes and our NHS.  Taxes fund civilisation, one of the greatest human achievements; constructing societies where the less able are treated well, to the benefit, in my opinion, of everyone.  This way of thinking doesn't seem to feature in the US media coverage snippets I've seen.