Hometown: Fayetteville, Ark.
Family: Wife Devona; children Brenna, Gianna, Tanisha and Travis; three grandchildren
In Town: Travis Freeman and his wife Devona own and operated Rolling Pin Café. It was originally owned by his mom and stepfather.
Rolling Pin Café has been named by Taste of Home magazine as the best dinner in Arkansas.
“It’s all home cooking,” Travis said. “My wife does most everything; I just go in at 4 o’clock in the morning with her and if all the workers show up, I go and do some excavating work.”
Travis said is excavating work isn’t a full-time business, just something he enjoys doing.
In the Country: Travis is a horseman. Over the years, Travis said he has bred horses, broke and trained colts, but his focus now is team roping.
“The restaurant seems to take a lot of my time, or I’m just not as young as I once was,” he said. “Breaking horses it’s something I do much of anymore. We do train some for team roping. That’s something I’ve done off and on through the years. I do mostly jackpots, and there’s an arena at McCord (Road) and we practice twice a week.”
Travis currently has four Quarter Horses, a half-draft and a mule.
“We’ve had all kinds of horses,” Travis said. “When the kids were younger, we started them with gaited horses because I considered them to be not quite as broncy as a Quarter horse; they don’t normally buck you off. We would keep them for a year or so, then sell it and get them something else.”
His half-draft mare is bred to a blue roan Percheron.
“Some people call them a gentle giant,” Travis said. “I do some harness work, and if you stay with the old farm-type, they are pretty gentle.”
Travis’ mule is also broke to a harness and to ride. He enjoys working with his equine, and actually prefers them over some equipment.
“It’s quiet. I don’t have 4-wheeler, a side-by-side; I don’t like to hear them run,” he said. “I’m a little backwards, but it’s just peace and quiet. If you have something broke to work, it’s actually quicker to run a double shovel than a tiller down the garden. I logged with mules 20, 30 years ago; it’s also something I like to do. I’m fine to just go take a ride in the woods; I don’t have to have a crowd around. Maybe we’ve been in the restaurant so long and there’s always a crowd of people, so maybe that’s why I have to take a ride once in a while to just hear Mother Nature.”
