Last Saturday I rode with the Northern Virginia Motorcycle Club (NOVA MC) to the Route 11 Potato Chip factory. Debbie had to work so she missed out on the fun. 
The start point was in Manassas, VA with a link up time of 8 AM but I left the house early in order to stop and have breakfast with Debbie. We stopped at the Chick-fil-a in Leesburg to have a quick meal I then went to ride and she went off to work.
We had eleven bikes, several with passengers, show up for the ride. After a short safety brief from the road captain “Chaz” we started to roll out…. But, one of the bikes had a malfunction, it would not start. After a few attempts at “bump starting” it was apparent it was not going anywhere. We confirmed that the rider had the issue covered and then set off.
It was a bit cool when we hit the road, around 60 degrees (Fahrenheit) and of course even cooler as we road down Interstate 66. After the merge of I-66 and Interstate 81 we took the first exit (Route 11) and headed south. We rode though the towns of Strasburg, Woodstock (where we noticed that the temperature was now around 55 degrees), Edinburg, and Mount Jackson.
Turns out that I-81 was the major interstate replacement for Route 11. 11 begins at the Canadian border at Rouses Point, NY and ends in Louisiana. Route 11 is 1,645 miles or 2,647 KM in length.
Turning off Route 11 we hit Wissler Road (VA 720) and rode through Meems Bottom Covered Bridge. The bridge was a bit tricky, it had raised wooden planks for cars to traverse, which caught me a bit off guard. Going into a dark covered bridge with dark sun glasses trying to keep a good distance and pace while riding on raised planks….interesting!
A few miles from the covered bridge is the Route 11 Potato Chip factory. It is out by itself, you have to want to go there, which we did. They were not cooking chips that day but I have to admit that for a place that deep fries their product it was remarkably clean! The owner gave us an overview of how the operation works which was interesting and we sampled all their different types of chips.
I liked the BBQ chips the most and bought a bag for myself. I also bought a small bag of their “hot” chips, Mama Zuma’s! Now that was a spicy potato chip!
After the visit to the chip plant we stopped for lunch at Johnny Appleseed’s restaurant. The food was nice and the lunch conversation was better. After we ate it was time to head back. We took VA 340 North and I followed the same path as when Debbie and I visited New Market Battlefield (click here for that ride).
All in all it was another great ride with the NOVA MC!
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- The MC at the chip factory
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- NOVA MC!
I JUST WANT 2 RIDE!! 