On the July 20, 2009 episode of Great American Road Trip, The Heartland, the families moved from Carthage, Mo. to the, where another family was eliminated.
Living Laura’s Life
On the way to Independence, Kan. the families learned all about Laura Ingalls Wilder, who lived in Independence, and her life. They stopped at a tourist attraction that mirrored Little House on the Prairie. The Pollard family felt right at home in a place where they killed their dinner themselves, but the Disalvatores weren’t so thrilled with a place that had raccoon soup for dinner and had their men dig their water wells and outhouses.
My Dad Makes the Best Burger
The night’s challenge took place at the Red Buffalo Ranch in Sedan, Kan. The families were told they would be having a cookout and spending the night there. The challenge was that each father had to cook a batch of burgers using any ingredient they would like. The remaining family members would then test the burgers in a blind taste test. Mason was very worried since his father had never cooked a burger and didn’t even know when it was done.
Lenny was feeling very confident and was focused on timing. Silvio decided he was going to cook a burger but forget the toppings. Keith said he wasn’t worried because his kids aren’t that picky. Ricardo was using bacon and parmesan and said he wasn’t worried because “it’s kinda hard to mess ‘em (burgers) up.” Darius thought his main competition would be Ron, who was making his famous Pollard burger.
Some of the reviews were good but some weren’t so great. Most of the time the families didn’t like the burger their own father/husband made. One surprise to the competition was that most of the families loved Silvio’s burger.
The Favereys, the Disalvatores and the Ricos were the bottom three teams, and the Cootes family won the challenge. Their reward was a top-of-the-line Weber grill.
Build for Safety
A fantastic surprise for the families on the way to their final destination of the episode was a stop at the Tallgrass Prairie Preserve in Oklahoma, which has herds of buffalo roaming the area. While there the families ate a local Applebees and were given gift cards at the end of their meals.
The End of the Road challenge sounded simple but was very difficult for the teams. The family had to pile several giant props on to a small cut out of Texas. The team with the slowest time would be eliminated.
The Ricos plan was for mom and kids to move stuff and dad to stack it, but not far in Ricardo twisted an ankle. He powered through, though. The Faverey family did a fantastic job stacking their items, managing to place items in other items. There was a lot of yelling between the Disalvatores, but the managed to have the fastest time. The Ricos ended up going home.
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