BlueSky

I don't think med ins will ever be affordable again. There are so many super expensive operations and procedures that modern technology has given us that so many people need, it has to be very expensive in my opinion. Dental cost can be prohibitive too if you need dental implants.

I think the ACA was created to insure all the people who can't pay for insurance and to create such chaos that it would pave the way for a single payer system which is the preference of the party that created the ACA.

Well, lets face it. Medical insurance is a form of socialism. If we were totally independent, we would not participate and would pay for our own medical costs. If we take risks or over eat and eat food that is bad for us, we would pay out of our own pockets for our higher risk choices. But we choose to have medical insurance that we pay for individually into a pool and expect the pool to pay for our medical costs. And the pool pays for our high risk actions that we demand to be able to do as we choose. Nothing is that simple it seems. Both houses of Congress and the President are trying their best to come up with an equitable lower cost answer to this issue. Good luck to them. They are going to need it. I hope they succeed.

Thank you for your views. I spoke of disability SS checks. I get an SS check. I filed when I was 69 years old because I was still working. Health care cost is rapidly spinning out of control. I don't know the answer to get it under control and still provide quality health care for everyone. Most countries have single payer where health care is rationed to keep cost down. Older people who need the most health care don't get the care they need. We are unique in our way of providing health care. I hope we can come up with a decent system that the country can afford, but I'll believe it when I see it.

I appreciate your response. A few years ago, I would have agreed with you. However, Americans are getting SO FAT. Women weigh more than men did 50 years ago. Obesity is a major problem that is only getting worse. Every time I go to Walmart, I see many shoppers riding the motorized shopping carts with fat hanging off the seat. Invariably the cart contains Pepsi, chips, and maybe ice cream. I suspect they are all getting a social security disablility check. It's contributing to major increases in health care cost because of joint problems, heart problems, diabetes. and mulitple other problems. Since we don't have the self discipline to keep from getting fat and driving up health care costs, I think a sugar tax is a great idea. Sugar is a carbohydrate that provides calories and no other nutritional value. We tax the heck out of alcohol and tobacco. Maybe sugar taxes should be implemented.

Yeah, those breakfast bars are loaded with sugar. They may be nutritional but not low calorie. I wrote emails to my Congressman and both my Senators suggesting they implement a tax on sugar and an additional tax on soft drinks to help pay for health care. If it reduces sugar consumption it will make us healthier. If it doesn't the health care system could use the money to pay for health care for all those people who consume the sugar. It's a win, win.

Everybody has opinions on linked brakes versus de-linked. Most if not all touring bikes these days have linked brakes as well as ABS on the newer ones because it is a safety feature. I will leave mine linked because in a panic situation, we tend to jam the brake pedal. Years of driving cars have trained us to do this. If you do that with a de-linked system, the rear wheel locks up and you crash. If you are just riding the curves agressively, I'm sure most of us would prefer de-linked brakes but it's those panic stops where we mess up. Like I said, everybody has their own opinion.

I have to respectfully take issue with this based on my personal observation. If I use sugar in my coffee, I will gain weight. If I use Splenda, I don't. Not a scientific study, but just my observation.

Living off the land is not as much fun as I thought!

I don't like the taste of the minerals in bottled water, spring water, and tap water, so I drink distilled water.

A small set of picks are cheap and work well pulling out the washers and o-rings. I put a tiny bit of sticky gasket sealer on the end of a screwdriver to pull out the screw when I was working on the carbs while they were on the bike.

I used K&L needles and seats in my Kawasaki carbs and they did great. Yep, if a float has a hole in it or is saturated depending on the material and sinking, that would explain the gas coming in.

Cool! Do you still have the pick-em-up truck?

They try to hide and are very hard to see sometimes. They may still be in the carb.

Kind of like lying to your girl friends to get what you wanted back in the day!

I worked in the engineering profession for a large electrical utility. What I saw was that expectations for women engineers were lower than for men engineers. Women could get a good job evaluation and promotions for performance that would put men engineers in jeopardy of getting fired or at least a bad job evaluation.

Ever since I was in the Army, I can sleep anywhere on most anything. I've spent several nights on the floor in the airport using my carry-on as a pillow. I was 69 the last time. I prefer the foam mattresses. We have a couple of those in the house but the master bedroom has a really firm coil spring mattress, one of Sears best with two layers totalling 4" of memory foam on the top that I added.

Nice looking bike!

If you have a welder and a cutting torch, go for it.

Count the caliper pistons. the MkIIs have 4 piston calipers.

Check the fuel level per the manual instructions with the engine running to confirm your settings.

Why don't you check the fluid level when it is leaking by connecting a tube to the drain and opening it. Compare to the other carbs if necessary. If the level is high you know the needle is leaking on that carb. I used a clear tygon tube that fit tightly over the drain tubes on my venture to check the fuel levels in accordance with instructions in the manual.

A locksmith might just change the lock so your key will work. I had a 1981 Honda CB900C that a PO had installed a Goldwing fairing and jury rigged the GW trunk and saddlebags on to the bike. I changed the lock on the trunk so the ignition key would work by taking it apart and removing or moving the tumblers around so the ignition key would unlock it. Take a look at it and see if you can disassemble the lock.

Some years ago, I was thinking about a used Airstream travel trailer. I had always heard they were the best. My research revealed that the longer trailers, about 30' I think, had frame problems in the rear. The rear actually sagged on some of them, on the super expensive Airstream! So, I would agree with Flying Fool about considering frame strength. Travel trailers are typically engineered to be as light as possible so probably not much margin on the frame strength.