routing problem - fork on gateways

[David Nicol]

> Now an intelligent ip protocol will bypass the router
> once it has found the gateway, so traffic only goes
> through the router the first time. Correct me if I'm
> wrong in any of this. I don't see the internet gateway
> in the description of the LAN anywhere, so I've
> assumed that the firewall is the gateway. I see only
> the firewall with a local address connected to the
> cable modem, which I don't think will work the way
> described. Something here has to be connected to two
> networks (LAN & internet).
> 
> Brian JD

the piece of the puzzle that appears absent from your communicated
understanding of the situation in discussion is that the box that
is talking to the internet is doing network address translation, so
even an IP stack that would bypass a hop if it can will do no such
thing.