Va. Guzzi lunch meet this Sat.+ Report

[Ronkom]

Sent out to Va riders last week:
" Va Guzzisti,
Our last "regular" lunch was at Amici's in February of 2020, it's time we got back.  The December 2021 VA Guzzi riders lunch meet will be next Saturday, Dec. 18th, 12:30 P.M., at Amici's Italian Bistro in Scottsville.  Amici's full  address is 370 Valley Street, Scottsville Va., 24590. Phone # is (434) 286-4000.  My cel (for emergencies) is (434) 426-3329, & my home # is (434)993-3841. I reserved a table for 10, I hope we can fill it. The lady I spoke to remembered us & sounded pleased that we'll be back
https://www.facebook.com/Amicis-Italian-Bistro-141666832557726/
 The weather has been ranging from record highs to bone chilling cold day by day lately, the advanced weather-guess for next Saturday in Scottsville is decent (for Dec.) Sunny w/a high of 58 degrees & a 0% chance of  precip.  Let's hope they are on the money. .......w/maybe a tad warmer.
Rain, snow, sleet, or shine, caged or in the wind..........
See ya there!
Ron"

Anyone interested in Moto Guzzi, caged or in the wind on any brand is always welcome at a Guzzi event in Virginia. Updated weatherguess for Scottsville this Saturday is a high of 72 degrees, cloudy w/ a chance of showers, low percentage in the morning peaking briefly at about 40% at 4:00 P.M.
Ron


 

[Ronkom]

Guzzisti,

The weatherguessers were taking wild swings at a forecast for Saturday all last week, w/temps as high as 72 & near 0 chance of rain & worse from there. Early Saturday morning, checking weather underground for Lynchburg & Scottsville, it was obvious that I'd be getting wet if I rode one of the bikes. So, I decided to weenie out & drive the cage. That decision made I asked Alice if she wanted to go & got a yes. We headed out a little early, going East to Appomattox then NNE on Rt 24. Why is it that when ever you want to just cruise at the speed limit & look around there's always somebody in a big hurry riding the rear bumper? Alice was looking for signs about the walking trails in the surrender grounds park. The second time I turned into one of the display pull offs (to let my "pushers" go on by) there was a rack of brochures including one on the trails & another on birds in the park. It put a smile on Alice's face (always a good thing).
Rolling into Scottsville still pretty early, (drizzling) I saw that there was already a Guzzi parked in front of Amicis. Wow, that's different, I'm almost always the first to arrive.  I got the pup parked in the Tavern on the James lot & as I was walking up the street toward Amicis a second Guzzi was parking next to the first.  It was a V7III Special, the same year & model as mine. The rider was Bill Hagan.  Alice was off doing a walk-around of "downtown" Scottsville (LOL) while I  checked out the mods on Bill's bike. It turned out he was just stopping by & couldn't join us for lunch as he had business to attend to. After he pulled out I went inside to meet Jerry & Donna Masters out on a ride up from Suffolk. Jerry had ridden the magnificent white '14 Guzzi California outside while Donna had ridden her Can Am trike parked just up the street. They were finishing an appetizer, having already ordered. Jerry said the radar showed a rain mass coming in from the West & they couldn't stay for the lunch at our regular 12:30, hoping to get on home ahead of the rain.  I got to know them a little as folks arrived & gathered out on the sidewalk. Allyn & Suzie Chappell in a cage, David Youngblood, also caging, Bob Corfield on his venerable SP,  Lannis & Fay Selz on his Stelveo, Eppa Wimbush on "kermit" his green (naturally) Kawasaki Versys, a super light 300cc twin, MIke Jones on the mighty Convert & Nate Jones on his Breva. QUITE a turn-out for a questionable weather day in December. In total  (coming & going) 6 Guzzis, a Can Am & a Kawasaki.
As 12:30 approached, the folks kicking tires outside started coming in, while Jerry & Donna boxed up the remainder of their meal preparing to leave. Quick introductions all around.  That still left us w/more than the 6 I'd made reservations for. The table we'd normally have moved down to extend the one reserved already had other customers seated, so we ended up in two groups. A bummer for sure.  I make the reservation before sending out the posting, usually a week in advance, so all I can do is guess. Based on recent attendance: 6 in August, 5 in Sept., 2 in Oct., 6 in Nov.  A reservation for 6 seemed like a good bet.  To me the essence of motorcycling is freedom.  I dislike "commitment" as much as the next rider. The last thing I want is for the lunch meet to be something we feel obligated to commit to & then follow through. That being said, even a text to my celphone when the  final go/no go decision is made Saturday morning would be helpful.
 Service was good, our server has been there 6 years, remembered & welcomed us warmly. A look at the extensive menu showed that, unlike some other restaurants,  Amicis has not cut it back for all the disruption these last 2 years. The food received rave reviews, in fact, I had requests to make Amicis a twice-a- year stop in our rotation of restaurants. No problem! that's one less I have to make a decision about.  After lunch we had a brief tire-kicking session as the skies were definitely threatening. Alice & I  headed East on Rt 6 to Rt 29 as we had to make a stop in Madison Heights. We got rained on. I hope the riders who took different routes home were able to avoid getting too wet.

A Merry Christmas & Happy New Year (cool yule & frantic first) to all y'all,

Ron 

[Iron Cross Junction]

Yes, indeed.

And regrets, Ron and all, for not being able to stay.  We are flying to Seattle tomorrow and hadn't yet packed.

Best to all, especially Lannis and Fay, as the latter had told me about this two days earlier when he met me in Victoria.  It is a sad comment on my memory that I didn't remember that until two days later when I rode into Scottsville and, doh, saw Jerry Masters's C14 at curbside.

If interested, I posted about my trip, including seeing you, here: https://wildguzzi.com/forum/index.php?topic=113455.0

Best wishes,

Bill