November 2025 Central Virginia Moto Guzzi Lunch Report
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Michael S. Jones
Nov 15, 2025, 7:47:04 PMNov 15
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Greetings, Moto Guzzi friends. God blessed us with another great day for riding Moto Guzzis. The weather was mild and cloudy, which is nice, in my opinion, because the clouds keep the sun out of your eyes. I haven’t been to the Peaks of Otter since New Years Day in 2024. Route 43 to the peaks and then down the other side into Buchanan is a really nice motorcycle road, and in the autumn it’s exceptionally beautiful. Although most of the leaves are off the trees by now, there are still some deep red oaks, golden-yellow beach trees, and bright red euonymus bushes along the roadsides. I am glad that I decided to schedule the lunch in such an out-of-the-way location: the ride was worth it!
To my great pleasure, fourteen other people agreed with me. Yes, we had 15 at today’s lunch! I rode my Convert, which has been uncharacteristically moody lately but seemed to love today’s exercise. I stopped atop the mountains to take a picture of the valley below and almost immediately another Moto Guzzi pulled up – Al Chappell on his V7iii Stone. We rode down into Buchanan and made our way to Foot of the Mountain Café, where we found Mark Franges on a gold Moto Guzzi V85tt and another rider on a white 8-valve Norge, but somehow I missed writing down his name and I (ashamedly) don’t remember what it was. He’s someone I’ve met before, but I’d forget my own name if the waitress hadn’t thoughtfully left a note in the middle of our table declaring it reserved for “Jones.” Eventually Larry Echols joined us, too, riding his V100 Mandello S. That makes five Guzzis.
The other riders and bikes were Umot and Eugenia on a BMW K1600 GTL, Lisa Hobbs on a Suzuki Boulevard, Curtis Tyndall on a Honda VTX 1800, Dave Phillips on his KTM 390, Mark Brannon on a Honda Africa twin, and John Howard on a Triumph Tiger (instead of his usual V100 Mandello Aviazione Navale). I noticed that John’s Triumph, which I assumed would be chain-driven, is actually shaft drive. Nice! Mark’s wife and son joined us via a Jeep Wrangler.
I had never been to Foot of the Mountain Café before, but I really liked it. My food was good but not great, and although everyone seemed happy with their meals, I didn’t hear people raving about it as occasionally happens. The menu was extensive and the service was good, but what I liked most was the general atmosphere. It was a very down-home, small town dinner atmosphere, with lots of friendly chatter. There are tables and booths to choose from, and the walls are festooned with old license plates, signage, and the like. Outside, there’s a beautiful view of the mountains across the valley. The prices seemed a bit higher than some of the places where we’ve eaten this year, and I was definitely missing my usual eggplant parmigiana, but I’d be happy to stop there again anyway. It was my kind of place.
People came to this lunch from north of the restaurant (Dave), south of it (me), and as far east as the Richmond area. I don’t think anyone came from west of the restaurant. Next month we’ll move back east of the mountains. Even so, I don’t know if we’ll repeat having a turnout of 15, but I’m already looking forward to it. Great rides, great friends, and generally very good food, too – it’s a highlight of each month!
Wishing everyone a very happy Thanksgiving,
Mike
M. Jones, executive editor, Journal for the Study of Religions and Ideologies (www.jsri.ro)
"The heart has its reasons which reason does not know." -Blaise Pascal
"With man, instinct and reason avoid each other with adversity, yet, by repudiating each other they lure each other to reach mutual correction." -Lucian Blaga
"Human reason has this peculiar fate that in one species of its knowledge it is burdened by questions which, as prescribed by the very nature of reason itself, it is not able to ignore, but which, as transcending all its powers, it is also not able to answer." -Immanuel Kant
To my great pleasure, fourteen other people agreed with me. Yes, we had 15 at today’s lunch! I rode my Convert, which has been uncharacteristically moody lately but seemed to love today’s exercise. I stopped atop the mountains to take a picture of the valley below and almost immediately another Moto Guzzi pulled up – Al Chappell on his V7iii Stone. We rode down into Buchanan and made our way to Foot of the Mountain Café, where we found Mark Franges on a gold Moto Guzzi V85tt and another rider on a white 8-valve Norge, but somehow I missed writing down his name and I (ashamedly) don’t remember what it was. He’s someone I’ve met before, but I’d forget my own name if the waitress hadn’t thoughtfully left a note in the middle of our table declaring it reserved for “Jones.” Eventually Larry Echols joined us, too, riding his V100 Mandello S. That makes five Guzzis.
The other riders and bikes were Umot and Eugenia on a BMW K1600 GTL, Lisa Hobbs on a Suzuki Boulevard, Curtis Tyndall on a Honda VTX 1800, Dave Phillips on his KTM 390, Mark Brannon on a Honda Africa twin, and John Howard on a Triumph Tiger (instead of his usual V100 Mandello Aviazione Navale). I noticed that John’s Triumph, which I assumed would be chain-driven, is actually shaft drive. Nice! Mark’s wife and son joined us via a Jeep Wrangler.
I had never been to Foot of the Mountain Café before, but I really liked it. My food was good but not great, and although everyone seemed happy with their meals, I didn’t hear people raving about it as occasionally happens. The menu was extensive and the service was good, but what I liked most was the general atmosphere. It was a very down-home, small town dinner atmosphere, with lots of friendly chatter. There are tables and booths to choose from, and the walls are festooned with old license plates, signage, and the like. Outside, there’s a beautiful view of the mountains across the valley. The prices seemed a bit higher than some of the places where we’ve eaten this year, and I was definitely missing my usual eggplant parmigiana, but I’d be happy to stop there again anyway. It was my kind of place.
People came to this lunch from north of the restaurant (Dave), south of it (me), and as far east as the Richmond area. I don’t think anyone came from west of the restaurant. Next month we’ll move back east of the mountains. Even so, I don’t know if we’ll repeat having a turnout of 15, but I’m already looking forward to it. Great rides, great friends, and generally very good food, too – it’s a highlight of each month!
Wishing everyone a very happy Thanksgiving,
Mike
M. Jones, executive editor, Journal for the Study of Religions and Ideologies (www.jsri.ro)
"The heart has its reasons which reason does not know." -Blaise Pascal
"With man, instinct and reason avoid each other with adversity, yet, by repudiating each other they lure each other to reach mutual correction." -Lucian Blaga
"Human reason has this peculiar fate that in one species of its knowledge it is burdened by questions which, as prescribed by the very nature of reason itself, it is not able to ignore, but which, as transcending all its powers, it is also not able to answer." -Immanuel Kant
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