Couple marks 400th Texas Roadhouse visit on Lexington-Springmill Road in Ontario
ONTARIO ― Texas Roadhouse put up a welcome banner along Stumbo Road on Wednesday for Mike and Judy McNamara.
The couple from Franklin, Virginia, were visiting their 400th Texas Roadhouse store, at 515 N. Lexington-Springmill Road, and were greeted by Mayor Randy Hutchinson, reporters and CEO Jerry Morgan, the latter of whom surprised the couple at their table around 2:30 p.m. as country music played loudly in the busy restaurant.
In 2017, Judy McNamara retired after working 45 years at the Union Camp/International Paper mill in southeastern Virginia. Her husband retired from the same mill.
Traveling was next on the list for the couple, who said they love what they're doing, visiting the restaurants across America.
They are big fans.
She wears Texas Roadhouse earrings made from a pin she got in San Antonio, Texas, and he wears Texas Roadhouse socks and the restaurant's T-shirt.
Many years earlier, in 2003, the couple visited their first Texas Roadhouse while visiting her brother in Tennessee. Years later, Texas Roadhouse would ultimately change the trajectory of their travels.
When the McNamaras began traveling regularly in 2017, they created a new mission ― to visit 600-plus Texas Roadhouse locations in the United States.
When planning visits to museums and national parks, they check to see if there is a Texas Roadhouse nearby. When they arrived in Mansfield, they had visited 48 states and more than 399 Texas Roadhouse restaurants.
The couple drove from Washington, Pennsylvania, before coming to Ontario to spend two nights.
The road trips require some planning.
Judy McNamara keeps a spreadsheet on her tablet and the couple use a Garmin to help them navigate the highways.
The McNamaras on Thursday planned to dine at a Texas Roadhouse in Brooklyn, Ohio.
They are having a lot of fun.
They pay for their meals and said the food and employees are great at Texas Roadhouses.
They only had one experience where the staff was not very nice, Judy said.
Couple on quest to visit Texas Roadhouses
Even before Morgan sat down at their table to chat with them, they had pretty much decided what they were going to select from the menu.
"My go-to meal here is the 6-ounce sirloin, a salad with Thousand Island dressing and a baked sweet potato," Mike McNamara said.
Judy McNamara said she switches up the menu selections but said she loved the restaurant's roasted half-chicken, but they no longer offer it on the menu.
The couple didn't have time to visit any sites in Mansfield on this trip. They said they were carefully watching the weather as snow is predicted this week.
The McNamaras hit the roads "hard and heavy" starting in 2018 to visit a lot of their Texas Roadhouse selected destinations.
"In 2020 we wanted to go to Alaska, but COVID hit," she said.
By the end of 2017 they had only visited 37 of the Texas Roadhouse stores.
Morgan did surprise the couple when he sat down with them in their booth, but they recognized him.
"Is there something about you all that I know what's going on here?" he said as he walked up to their table. "Do you remember being in Louisville a couple years ago at the Founder's Day deal?"
Judy McNamara said yes.
"I'm Jerry. I run the Roadhouse a little bit," he said.
"Of course you're Jerry," Judy McNamara said with a smile.
The last time they met was in Louisvillle in September 2022 on Founder's Day.
Judy found the photo on her tablet, showing they and staff holding Louisville Sluggers.
Morgan, who lives in Kentucky, asked them, "How you guys been?" as Mike McNamara said, "I'm embarassed.
The couple updated the Texas Roadhouse CEO on their travels before it was time to snap a few photos with him and the staff.
"What's really exciting to me is, it is about the people. It's very cool and it's just been neat to watch the journey," Morgan told reporters. "They know a lot of our crew and we had them at our support center a year and a half ago and really showed them around a lot."
Judy McNamara posts some of their stops on Facebook but the couple do not have a blog.
Morgan said he believes the McNamaras are the only two customers who have hit 400 stores, "that we are aware of," he said.
It was Morgan's first time to visit the Texas Roadhouse in Ontario and he brought his wife and son, too. They were scheduled to fly out at 4:30 p.m.
Couple were in demand with reporters, CEO, photos, dinner
The McNamaras named their dog Andy after the store's Armadillo mascot who was on hand for photos, too.
The couple said they never feel like just going to McDonalds. They love the food at Texas Roadhouse and favorite meals include sirloin, chicken critters, herb chicken, pulled pork, pork chops and ribs, always with a side salad.
The couple have been married for 52 years. they still get along on the road trips having gone to high school together and worked at the mill together.
They don't really keep track of the miles spent on the Texas Roadhouse trips, but Mike McNamara estimated they've driven between 20,000 and 25,000 miles between the pickup and car in 2023.
Next they were headed to Findlay to see Mike McNamara's two sisters in Lima on Saturday, and on Sunday they plan to go to Newark, Ohio to see Judy McNamara's family before they head on to Tennessee.
When asked if they share all the details with their children, Judy McNamara said the couple do not have children.
"How do you think we're able to do all this?" she laughed.
lwhitmir@gannett.com
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This article originally appeared on Mansfield News Journal: Virginia couple on quest to travel to Texas Roadhouses around US
