This isn't meant to be a commiserations thread, but riding my bike has literally saved my life over the last two years. I lost my wife to be months before we married, two years ago on February, and life hasn't been easy since. Riding a motorcycle is great therapy, and riding the motorcycle that we both shared on trips all over takes me somewhere special. I wasn't feeling sad on these days, riding the bike.
Last year I spent Christmas week drinking wine and crying at home, this year I pushed myself to do something different, and I was feeling like going on a trip. The weather was crappy during Christmas Eve's day so I stayed in, but coming the 25th I couldn't wait anymore, and took to the road, taking small roads from my home in Azambuja to Faro, going the long way through deep Alentejo. Look it up in google Maps using locations I name, and it'll make sense.
Woke up late, and got on the bike even later, slightly tired and hungover, it was the 25th so everything was closed, I fueled the bike the previous day so I could ride for more than a day on slow roads, but my body was lacking an expresso. Found one after 11AM in Mora on a typical Alentejo lazy Xmas morning:
Rode on, and stopped exiting Mora to say hello to local farm animal life, the great thing about riding the December 25th is that I stopped for 10 minutes and no car came by:
My pictures are too big, I'll continue right away