Today I found myself, for the second time in my life, at the Fandango Rum Jungle Buffet in Carson City, NV.  So for this momentous occasion, if you will permit me, I would like to wax a bit philosophical about something that's been on my mind lately, which is Abundance.  The Buddhists have tried to teach me this lesson multiple times, and it seems like lately I might be in the mood to learn it.  The idea is this: there is always more.  More time, more love, more food, more friends.  Of course in some sense this is not strictly true.  Sometimes there is no more.  But if we act as though there is more, then - as a general rule - everything feels better.  When we act as though the food in front of us is all we'll get, we cram it in.  We get fearful.  We hoard.  We crave.  When there is plenty, we give it away freely.  Which is not to say that we don't value it, but we value it for what it brings us now, not for what it could bring us in the future.  And we don't grasp.  And, for most of us reading this, abundance is the natural state of things.  What do we have to fear from the future?  There will be more.  There will be more love, more friends, more food, more sleep.  There is no need to clutch.  Abundance surrounds us.  As this trip winds to a close, my natural tendency is to be afraid ; afraid I'll miss my new friends, afraid that I'll wish I'd done this or that on the trip.  As I leave each small town, a tiny voice in my head says "you'll never be back here, and you didn't take full advantage."  But that voice is misled.  I may or may not go back to Middlegate, or Ely, or Booneville, that's true.  But I will continue to ride my bike, to meet new people, to maybe meet old people once again, or perhaps not - but either way, there will be Abundance.  And so enjoy today; enjoy the sunshine, the grass, the friends that are here now.  Give freely to these last 4 or 5 days with the knowledge that there is more to come.