Yesterday was a fun day of riding. Long, and occasionally cold and wet but a good solid day. There was a traveling musical act on bicycles that we played leapfrog with all day. And delicious Mexican food for dinner. I rode most of the way today with Alex, my new Captain Canada friend who wore a big Canada jersey all day for which I gave him no end of crap.
One of the things that came up today was Buddhism. We've crossed back into Mendocino county and so we're back in the territory of the Marin/Sonoma/Mendocino Buddhist enclaves, and we passed our first one today. Buddhism weaved it's way into and out of the period of time I spent in SF, at least the last half. For a while I was really into it. I never considered myself a practicing Buddhist and I don't think I ever will, but it resonated with me - and helped me - more than my childhood Catholic training ever did. I took bits and pieces from it, which Buddhism encourages you to do (unlike Christianity). To me, Christianity is like a really nice restaurant where you order off a limited menu and then the waiter tells you that wasn't what you really wanted and recommends something else. Eventually you probably get something tasty. But Buddhism, to me, is the all-you-can-eat Chinese buffet. You don't even have to know what you want to eat, just that you're hungry, and then they put all these dishes in front of you and say "well, what do you feel like eating?"
