--- title: Cracker Barrel: Couple Has Been to 644 of 645 Locations description: Ray and Wilma Yoder, the 80-year-old Indiana-based couple, have made pilgrimages to 644 of 645 Cracker Barrel locations in the United States. canonical: https://time.com/4878055/cracker-barrel-couple-road-trip/ author: Lena Grossman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-07-28T15:32:23.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T04:46:25.757Z og:title: Couple Went to Every Cracker Barrel in U.S. Except One og:description: Ray and Wilma Yoder put all other road trips to shame og:url: https://time.com/4878055/cracker-barrel-couple-road-trip/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9cb7259a9b3feabe/6988d7898fd2eee60d358304/yoders.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4272 og:image:height: 2403 og:image:alt: cracker barrel-yoder og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Couple Went to Every Cracker Barrel in U.S. Except One twitter:description: Ray and Wilma Yoder put all other road trips to shame twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9cb7259a9b3feabe/6988d7898fd2eee60d358304/yoders.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Elderly Couple Couple Traveled 5 Million Miles to Hit Every Cracker Barrel in America Except One > Sponsored content. 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It curates the day's top headlines with TIME's reporting and analysis across politics, world affairs, business, health and culture. It is free to join at time.com/newsletters. #### How do I sign up for The Brief? The Brief is available free at time.com/newsletters, where readers can select it along with any of TIME's other six newsletters. There is no subscription required to receive it. #### Is The Brief free? Yes. The Brief is a free daily email newsletter from TIME. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes The Brief? The Brief is led by editor Richard Hall and draws on reporting from TIME's newsroom. Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. by [Lena Grossman](https://time.com/author/lena-grossman/) ## Lena Grossman Jul 28, 2017 3:32 PM UTC  Ray and Wilma Yoder smile outside Cracker Barrel in Lebanon, Tenn. on July 7, 2017\. The couple has visited 644 out of the 645 Cracker Barrels in the United States. Ray and Wilma Yoder smile outside Cracker Barrel in Lebanon, Tenn. on July 7, 2017\. The couple has visited 644 out of the 645 Cracker Barrels in the United States. Xavier Smith—Lebanon Democrat by [Lena Grossman](https://time.com/author/lena-grossman/) ## Lena Grossman Jul 28, 2017 3:32 PM UTC America just found itself a new heroic couple. Ray and Wilma Yoder, the 80-year-old Indiana-based couple, have made pilgrimages to 644 of 645 [Cracker Barrel locations](https://www.crackerbarrel.com/) in the United States, [accordingto _Lebanon Democrat_](http://lebanondemocrat.com/Community/2017/07/06/Couple-continues-Cracker-Barrel-journey.html) . That’s equivalent to 99.8% of all Cracker Barrel stores. This Cracker Barrel pilgrimage began 40 years ago as a dining preference for Ray, whose job sent him across the country delivering RVs. Ray told the _Democrat_, “It took the boredom out of being on the [road](http://www.thedrive.com/travel/12642/top-road-trips). It has a down-home spirit, and everybody is friendly.” Ray and Wilma’s A-list Cracker Barrel status started garnering attention about 30 years ago, although their renown has especially picked up speed as of late. According to the _Democrat_, the Yoders even receive gift baskets from some locations.  Truth Photo By Fred Flury Ray and Wilma Yoder with the two RVs they will drive to dealers in Florida. The Goshen couple try to dine at as many different Cracker Barrel locations as possible in their travels and to date have been to 567 locations. Fred Flury Ray and Wilma have their own Cracker Barrel constitution, although they don’t always share their secrets with employees. Ray, for instance, notices when a checkers board looks incorrect or if there are inconsistencies with other stores. Ray and Wilma have one main rule: “We always buy something– a cup of [coffee](http://time.com/4864222/cold-brew-coffee-health-benefits/), [candy](http://time.com/4568640/orem-candy-bar/) or something. We don’t just pull into the parking lot and leave.” The Yoders have traveled over five million miles to various Cracker Barrel locations and have even visited eight locations in one day. The one elusive location is in Tualatin, Ore., which they reportedly might visit this year. “It’s the same good service and great people wherever you go,” said Ray. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4878055/cracker-barrel-couple-road-trip/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4878055/cracker-barrel-couple-road-trip/"},"headline":"Elderly Couple Couple Traveled 5 Million Miles to Hit Every Cracker Barrel in America Except One","datePublished":"2017-07-28T15:32:23.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T04:46:25.757Z","description":"Ray and Wilma Yoder, the 80-year-old Indiana-based couple, have made pilgrimages to 644 of 645 Cracker Barrel locations in the United States.","url":"https://time.com/4878055/cracker-barrel-couple-road-trip/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Marriage","viral","relationships","Travel","People","food and drink"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9cb7259a9b3feabe/6988d7898fd2eee60d358304/yoders.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Lena Grossman","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/lena-grossman/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9cb7259a9b3feabe/6988d7898fd2eee60d358304/yoders.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"cracker barrel-yoder","caption":"Ray and Wilma Yoder have visited 644 out of the 645 Cracker Barrels in the United States.","creditText":"Xavier Smith—Lebanon Democrat","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4878055/cracker-barrel-couple-road-trip/","name":"Elderly Couple Couple Traveled 5 Million Miles to Hit Every Cracker Barrel in America Except One"}}]}] ```