Destinations

DESTINATIONS

Annual Pilgrimage to Italy

Italy, Texas

IF YOUR TASTE IN MOTORCYCLE SPORT runs towards European bikes whose names end in vowels, this just might be the ride for you.

The first Sunday in October, Italy, a quaint little town about 40 miles south of Dallas on State Route 77, becomes the desmodromic and pushrod capitol of America. That’s when the Texas chapter of the Moto Guzzi National Owners’ Club gets together for its “Annual Pilgrimage to Italy.” Texas, that is.

What’s the main event? That’s hard to tell. It might be “The Patented Pasta Run,” in which riders search for five different types of pasta along a designated route, and then trade their pasta for cards in a poker hand. It might be less formal rides through twisting, tree-covered country roads that are lined with cotton fields-and, in one area, the future site of the Super Conducter/Super Collider. It might be cruising along farm-to-market (FM) roads that have, in honor of this day, been temporarily given names like Darmah Drive, Lario Lane, and LeMans Street. Or it might be just parking on Italy’s main street, checking out other peoples’ bikes, talking with old friends and making new ones.

There’s plenty of lodging and great food available in Dallas and its associated cities, but the real attraction remains in Italy.

Karen Phillips

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Information Moto Guzzi National Owners’ Club P.O. Box 98 Olmitz, KS 67564