COOKEVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — If you find someone spending a lot of their life on the road by choice, there's going to be quite a story behind where they're headed and why. We haven't heard about a journey quite like this couple's.
Each year for the past several years, Mike and Judy McNamara have traveled 25,000 miles on what can only be called a quest.
"Quest!" Mike said.
"You like that word," I answered.
"I like that word."
"As long as he's driving, I'm OK," Judy smiled. "I wouldn't go anywhere if it wasn't for him driving everywhere."
So, what is the destination? They were seated in it.
"How are you guys doin' today?" a waitress asked, greeting the two of them in booth seats. "Welcome in!"
Well. More accurately, they were seated in one of a whole lot of destinations.
"We know what the menu is," Mike told the waitress.
"I figured you did," she smiled.
Mike and Judy are traveling the country on a quest to visit the more than 650 US locations of Texas Roadhouse.
"Some people think we're nuts!" Mike said. "We probably are."
This stop in Cookeville marked 494 stops.
Of course, people tend to have questions.
"Why?" Judy laughed.
"What do you say back?" I asked her .
"Why not?!"
"Yeah, who cares?" Mike added.
Mike and Judy said, don't overthink it. They just tend to like the people and what they get there. Introducing the third star of this story: cinnamon butter.
"That cinnamon butter pretty good?" I asked Judy, looking at the butter sitting next to a basket of rolls.
"Have you ever eaten at a Texas Roadhouse?" she answered.
"Of course I have!"
"Then you outta know how good it is!"
Mike and Judy said it's fair to call them creatures of habit. They're traveling in their Chevy Equinox. It's their fourth Equinox. They know what they like.
Mike and Judy are from Franklin, Virginia, and really started focusing on this unique mission once Judy retired in 2018. By now, the owners of the restaurants are all waiting for their Mike and Judy visit.
"I think they're pretty well known throughout our company," said Jim Jolly, owner of the Cookeville location.
"Aren't you basically royalty at this point?" I asked Judy as she laughed.
Mike and Judy have been married 53 years. I'd love to tell you the secret to a long happy marriage is cinnamon butter on rolls.
"It certainly hasn't hurt anything!" Mike smiled.
But there's a little more to it than that. Mike and Judy have a shared sense of adventure.
"We are seeing the country again through the Texas Roadhouse," Mike said.
One more thing. When it comes to leftovers, Mike and Judy have that covered too.
"This is Andy!" Mike said, introducing a little dog sporting a Texas Roadhouse bandana. "He loves leftovers. He knows what a styrofoam box is."
"I'm positive we'll make 600 if the good Lord allows us to survive that long," he continued, referring to the quest. "We've been having fun with it."
Do you have a positive, good news story? You can email me at forrest.sanders@newschannel5.com.
This story by Aaron Cantrell reminds me of my first school in Dyersburg, TN. I was a student at Bruce School from Kindergarten to second grade until the school system was integrated. My parents graduated from this K-12 school in 1960 in one of the city's African American communities. After sitting empty for several years, part of the school was demolished while the rest was renovated and now serves as a community center for the Bruce community in Dyersburg. A local pastor is now trying to do something similar in the Cemetery community in Rutherford Co.
-Lelan Statom
