That's when he started a unique quest: to visit every Cracker Barrel Old Country Store in the country.
[Ads /]
Yoder went alone at first, while his wife Wilma was home with the kids, but as the children grew older, she joined her husband on the road.
On his 81st birthday, Ray Yoder completed the journey, 5 million miles in the making. They walked into their very last Cracker Barrel outside Portland, Oregon, on Monday.
The grand total: 645 Cracker Barrels in 44 states.
[Ads /]
Ray celebrated with blueberry pancakes, and Wilma had eggs and sausage.
"Well everybody does something, usually, anyway, so we thought we would do this and it would be fun so yeah it worked out," he said.
But rest assured, it won't be the end of the Yoders' travels.
They hope to keep up with the new openings, including California's first Cracker Barrel opening in February in Victorville.