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A very American mission: Virginia couple looks to visit, eat at every Texas Roadhouse in US

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Judy and Mike McNamara have been to Texas Roadhouse restaurants all over the country, including those in Montana and Illinois.

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A retired Virginia couple is making rounds online as they set out to visit every Texas Roadhouse restaurant in the U.S.

Although they have recently achieved viral fame, Mike McNamara and his wife, Judy, started the challenge back in 2003.

The couple is from Franklin, Virginia, about 44 miles southwest of Norfolk. They first went to Texas Roadhouse in 2003 when Judy’s brother took them to one in Knoxville.

After going to about 37 restaurants, Mike looked at the couple’s credit card statements and started a spreadsheet to keep track.

“Since we were both retired at that time, I was like ‘OK. Let’s see how many we can go to,’” Mike told USA TODAY.

The couple went to nearly 100 restaurants total in 2018 and 2019. At last check, they’ve hit 434 restaurants.

“I thought we were going to slow down but we’re apparently not doing that,” said Mike. “There’s supposed to be between 650 and 700 in the United States alone, so we’ve knocked down a few of them.”

Virginia couple just loves good food, they say

Mike said the couple likes Texas Roadhouse because their dishes have the home-cooked feel he loves.

“It’s good food,” he said. “We don’t like fancy food. We don’t like what they call fine dining. It’s just too rich and it’s not worth the price to start with, to us.”

He really enjoys Texas Roadhouse’s six-ounce sirloin with salad and baked sweet potatoes. He visits the restaurant so frequently, but he likes to switch things up though. Now, he typically orders the sirloin, the pork chops, the pulled pork and the chicken tenders. 

Judy, his wife, typically orders shrimp and chicken dishes, and sometimes ribs.

The McNamaras have been greeted enthusiastically at multiple Texas Roadhouse locations, including a restaurant in Montana last summer.

“Last week we had the pleasure of meeting Mike & Judy McNamara,” posted management from a Billings, Montana location on June 14 last year. 

“They are currently on a road trip visiting every Texas Roadhouse in the U.S. and Billings was their 337th location!”

The couple works with someone from Texas Roadhouse to let different restaurants know when they’re visiting. Sometimes the workers know they’re coming and other times, they’re in for a nice surprise.

“Yesterday was a big celebration,” Mike said. “Our milestones, the 200th, 300th, 400th visit have been very exciting as far as the participation of the people that are there,” he said. 

He said reaching these milestones and visiting hundreds of restaurants is like a dream.

Couple travels hundreds of miles per day

The McNamaras, now 71, have known each other since they were in third grade. They started dating in 10th grade and got married in 1971, Mike said.

Now that they’re retired, they have more time to dine at Texas Roadhouse restaurants all over the country. They drive a pickup truck and pull their camper, sometimes traveling 350 to 450 miles between campsites.

They estimate they travel 25,000 miles a year traveling to and from home, checking out Texas Roadhouse’s treats.

“We’ve wiped out a lot of them within 400 or 500 miles of home,” Mike said. “It’s getting harder to (do) as they’re building some more, which of course, sort of defeats the purpose of getting them all because now you’ve got more to go to.”

They have plans to visit Texas Roadhouse locations in Alaska too, Mike said. They went to Alaska in 2010 but the restaurants hadn’t been completed yet. Now that they’re done, they plan to fly to Alaska at some point.

“As long as our health is good and I still can drive 300 to 400 miles a day, we’re going to keep doing this,” Mike said.

The couple was in Indiana Friday with plans to go to Ohio later on.

The attention they’ve received has been a bit puzzling, Mike said.

“It’s not like we don’t want it,” he said. “I don’t think we deserve it to a certain degree. Yes, we’re doing something that nobody else is doing but to us, it’s not that special other than enjoying the food and enjoying the Roadhouse family.”

Keep up with the McNamaras and their Texas Roadhouse journey on Facebook.

Saleen Martin is a reporter on USA TODAY’s NOW team. She is from Norfolk, Virginia – the 757. Follow her on Twitter at @SaleenMartin or email her at sdmartin@usatoday.com.

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