Every year we make the same motorcycle trip up to Bridgeport, California. It’s become one of those traditions that everyone looks forward to. We tweak the route a little from year to year, stop at a few new places, and somehow still manage to discover something we missed before. But there’s one stop that’s never in question: Virginia Creek Settlement.
If you’ve ever stayed there, you probably know exactly where I’m going with this. The pizza is incredible.
Now, before anyone gets the wrong idea, this isn’t Neapolitan pizza. It’s almost the complete opposite of what we make here at South of Shaw. It’s big, thick, hearty pizza that’s built to satisfy a group of hungry riders after a full day on the road. A small easily feeds four people, but every year we convince ourselves that we’re starving and we end up with a bunch of larges.
We end up sitting around the table laughing at ourselves while staring at enough leftover pizza to feed us for another week. You’d think we’d learn after all these years, but apparently optimism is stronger than experience.
Every road trip seems to have a place like this.
Maybe it’s a little brewery tucked away on a side road that somehow brews the best beer in three counties. Maybe it’s a diner that’s been making the same homemade pie for fifty years. (I’ll tell you about the pie in Montana another time.) Maybe it’s a roadside burger stand that doesn’t look like much until you take that first bite. Whatever it is, those places become part of the trip and soon they become traditions.
As someone who owns both a brewery and a pizzeria, I probably appreciate those places even more than most people. I love finding great pizza, even when it’s nothing like ours. Good food is good food, and there’s something special about discovering a place that’s doing its own thing really well. The same goes for breweries. Some of my favorite stops have been little neighborhood brewpubs where you can tell the owners are making the kind of beer they enjoy drinking instead of chasing whatever happens to be trending that year.
In a couple of weeks we’ll be heading out on our annual group ride for 2026, making our way through Northern California, Nevada, and Oregon. The route is planned, the hotels are booked, and the motorcycles are ready. The thing about these trips is that the best stops are usually the ones we never planned.
So I’m asking for recommendations. If you’ve got a favorite brewery, pizza place, diner, or roadside restaurant, I want to hear about it. I’m not looking for whatever has the highest online rating or made some magazine’s “Top 10” list. I’m looking for those places that locals quietly recommend because they’ve been getting it right for years.
Stop by the pub, leave us a comment on Instagram, or send us a message. I’ll be sure to report back after the ride and let everyone know whether you steered us in the right direction. After all, every great road trip deserves at least one unforgettable brewery… and one pizza that’s so good you order way more than you should.