I also tried turning Fast Lane Checkout on to see if that helped. It did help in that now all checkout pages are in the template/skin. However, the header (my modified head.tpl) always appears at the bottom, after the main content, and before the footer.
I checked /skin1/modules/Fast_Lane_Checkout/home.tpl, and sure enough, the template reads:
<div id="center-main">...</div>
...
<div id="header">
{include file="customer/head.tpl"}
</div>
<div id="footer">
{include file="customer/bottom.tpl"}
</div>
...
Is that how it is supposed to be? If so, what is the purpose of that structure, just so I can understand...
Thanks in advance!