Latest news with #roadhouse
ABC News
4 days ago
- Automotive
- ABC News
Stranded Nullarbor driver hoping for help watches cars go by for two days
If you decide to embark on driving Australia's longest stretch of straight road, you have to be prepared for anything. When Caleb Humphries's car broke down on the Nullarbor Plain, he spent two days watching cars drive past him, hoping someone would stop. They didn't. The 23-year-old was stranded about 30 kilometres from the nearest roadhouse and tried everything to get his car up and running. "I had every other part I could possibly have for my car, except for the two parts that broke," he said. "At that time, I tried to make a dodgy fix myself, but nothing worked, and it wasn't until then that I realised nothing was working." Each time a car passed him on the Eyre Highway, he would get out of his car to alert the driver that he needed help. "But no-one stopped," he said. "I was starting to get hungry on the second day. I had no more food because all my food went bad." Truck driver Chevy Hawkins was on his way home after helping to deliver hay to draught-stricken South Australia when his mum contacted him to say a man was stuck on Eyre Highway near Madura. "Probably 32 kilometres on the west side of Madura, there was a Nissan Patrol on the side of the road," he said. "I pulled up, went and saw young Caleb [in his car] and woke him up, and started talking to him. Mr Hawkins was able to use his Starlink internet to get Mr Humphries in contact with friends in Margaret River. "I stayed with him for, it'd be good 45 minutes to an hour, just so he could get in touch with people," he said. "He organised some parts from Kalgoorlie that got sent out to him, and he got back on the road." Mr Hawkins said he was disappointed Mr Humphries had to wait so long for help. "It's honestly shameful of the people who went past and didn't stop," he said. "If you don't feel safe, you don't have to get out of the car to ask if they're OK. You can still sit in your car and check they're OK." When Sarah Howell heard her son's friend, Mr Humphries, was in trouble she knew she had to help. But, as a Margaret River local, Ms Howell said she had to get creative with finding help from more than 1,200 kilometres away. "I just thought, well, you know, the only place I can start is in my local community," she said. Ms Howell made a post asking for help in a Margaret River community group on Facebook, which quickly made its way into trucking and caravanning groups across the south of the state. From there, she was able to coordinate communication with Mr Humphries and get replacement parts out to him. "It really was a massive logistical effort between a gentleman in Albany, a gentleman in Kalgoorlie, and another woman in Margaret River," she said. Ms Howell said the generosity of strangers was vital in getting Mr Humphries to his final destination in the south-west of WA. "People absolutely restored my faith in humanity. I was just so, so grateful," she said. Mr Humphries arrived safely in the South West on August 1.
Yahoo
10-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Where was Texas Roadhouse founded? The answer may surprise you
(SavorNation) – Step inside any Texas Roadhouse, and it's easy to spot the numerous references to the Lone Star State. Menu items include Texas Red Chili and a Fort Worth Ribeye; there's a whole corner dedicated to Texas icon Willie Nelson; and it's quite possible a waiter will boot-scoot over to someone's table at any given moment. What you won't see, though, are many mentions of Clarksville, Indiana. Why is Ruth's Chris Steak House called 'Ruth's Chris Steak House'? Despite its 'Texas' moniker, the first-ever Texas Roadhouse opened at a mall in Clarksville, Indiana, in 1993, just over the Ohio river from founder Kent Taylor's hometown of Louisville, Kentucky. So where exactly did Taylor get the idea to go all-in on Texas? According to a spokesperson for the restaurant chain, Taylor had wanted to recreate the roadhouse-style eateries that he observed during previous visits to Texas. 'He wanted to create a value-based restaurant with food he could be proud of, featuring steak, ribs, and made-from-scratch sides and sauces. A spot with a jukebox full of country tunes (originally this was a live band) and an energetic atmosphere,' a spokesperson for the company wrote in a statement shared with Nexstar. Opening up a Texas-style roadhouse, however, wasn't Taylor's first idea. Before settling on a Texas-themed restaurant, Taylor tried opening a seafood restaurant and a 'Florida salad company,' he told the Louisville Business Journal. But one of his first major entrepreneurial successes came after he launched a Colorado-themed restaurant called Buckhead Hickory Grill (later the Buckhead Mountain Grill), having developed a love for Colorado — and skiing — while managing nightclubs and restaurants in the state, he once said in a 2009 interview. Taylor launched the concept in Kentucky, thanks in part to finally finding an investor in former Kentucky Governor John Y. Brown, he wrote in 'Made From Scratch,' a memoir published after his death in 2021. He had also pitched Brown his idea for a Texas-themed steakhouse, but couldn't come to a deal on financing. So he secured his own funding (after being turned down by dozens of other potential investors) to open the first Texas Roadhouse in 1993, and he sold his stake in the Buckhead Mountain Grill a year later, the Louisville Business Journal reported. Within years, the Texas Roadhouse expanded to include dozens of locations. And in 1998, just about five years after its founding, a Texas Roadhouse finally opened in Texas. The first Applebee's had a wildly different name Taylor didn't exactly give up on his dream of a Colorado-themed restaurant, though. He opened the first Aspen Creek Grill in 2009, aiming to offer a wider range of menu items in 'a more upscale atmosphere,' he once told Nation's Restaurant News. (Texas Roadhouse later sold its Aspen Creek concept to a company called Ultra Steak in 2013.) In the decade that followed, Taylor oversaw the opening of additional restaurant chains, including his Bubba's 33 sports bars, as well as a burger chain called Jaggers. And if he were alive today, it's not unthinkable that he'd be developing additional restaurant concepts — perhaps even a few inspired by his time in Indiana or Kentucky. 'I have this creative problem,' he told the Louisville Business Journal in 2020. 'Every few years I have to create something. … I think I might have to go to therapy someday.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
