“I didn’t let her go anywhere without me,” he says while glancing at his bride. They would communicate through Citizens band radio. Ray and Wilma are to Cracker Barrel what Willie Nelson is to Wacky Tobaccy.Īs Ray and Wilma’s children grew older Wilma began to trail Ray in a second RV so they could make more money on a drop. Maybe its a little drier.” Wilma adds, “Sometimes mine falls apart but it as near like mine as any I’ve tasted. We’ve not been able to match the meat loaf. “It’s so much like the food at home,” Ray says. Since then Ray and Wilma have visited all 645 Cracker Barrels in 44 states. Cracker Barrel is headquartered in nearby Lebanon, Tn. Ray ate at his first Cracker Barrel Old Country Store on Briley Parkway by the Opryland Resort and Convention Center. In 1978 while making a delivery in Nashville, Tn.

In the 1960s Ray became a factory worker at the now- defunct Globemaster Mobile Homes in Goshen before snagging a job delivering motor homes from manufacturer to dealers in Elkhart, the RV capital of the world.Īnd that was their gateway to becoming octogenarian Americana celebrities. The Yoders are the proud parents of four children between the ages of 43 and 58. Their life has been filled with rewarding turns. Ray and Wilma will celebrate their 61st wedding anniversary on Oct. “Wilma came about ten miles that day in a horse and buggy not knowing it was all going to be worth it,” Ray quips during a front porch conversation on a warm September morning. Ray has lived in the same farm house since he was five years old. They met in 1953 in baptismal class at a Mennonite (new order Amish) church about four miles from where they live today. You see, Ray and Wilma always move in modest directions. Truckers and cars go too fast for this thin stretch of rural highway about 25 minutes southwest of Elkhart. While sitting next to each other on a twin rocking chair, Ray and Wilma wave to Amish neighbors who hold tight reins on their horse and carriage.

GOSHEN, IND.-Ray and Wilma Yoder watch the world roll by from the front porch of their 85-year-old farm house on County Road 34 in Goshen, Ind. Ray and Wilma Yoder, Cracker Barrel and RV fans (Courtesy of Cracker Barrel)

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