A multistate, decade-long Pizza Ranch odyssey is man’s slice of heaven

When Jason Halkias digs into a slice at the Pizza Ranch in Willmar on Saturday, it won’t just be any old bite of pizza. It represents a culminating step in what’s become an epic pizza pilgrimage.

Saturday’s stop in Willmar will be the 219th Pizza Ranch restaurant visited by Halkias, a 38-year-old resident of Davenport, Iowa, as he nears his goal of eating at every Pizza Ranch in the United States. It’s also the 44th, and final, Pizza Ranch in Minnesota on Halkias’s list.

“Willmar will complete my visits to the Land of 10,000 Lakes,” he said on Thursday, as he drove from Iowa toward Minnesota. “I feel really good that I’m able to complete what I once thought was a challenge.”

Halkias began his quest in 2014. This trip to Minnesota is one of the final legs of his journey, with only five Pizza Ranches yet to visit after this weekend.

His pizza pilgrimage has brought Halkias all over America. At home, he has a closet overflowing with gifts from all the pizzerias he’s visited: hats, hoodies, a squishy football. A Paul Bunyan shirt from Bemidji. A pin with his name on it from Holland, Mich. A Bible from a Pizza Ranch in Lincoln, Neb. At the pizzeria arcade in Helena, Mont., he once scored enough points to win the plastic disco ball that now graces the dancefloor at his DJ gigs.

Halkias said he lives by a code for his trips, which he calls “swings.” When he visits one of the buffet-based restaurants, which typically feature not just pizza but also fried chicken, pasta and a salad bar, he must spend enough time there to experience it. “I’m not just going to go in a location and get a picture and then leave,” Halkias said. “No, that doesn’t count in my opinion. Ha!”

Halkias sees each Pizza Ranch as different, a reflection of its community. The chain’s locations tend toward smaller towns and regional centers and are rarely found in urban centers. Halkias also notices smaller distinctions: some Pizza Ranches, for example, don’t have spear pickles in the buffet, he said.

On his Facebook page, Halkias has chronicled the landmarks he’s visited on his swings: the geographical center of America in South Dakota, the remnants of the Oregon Trail in Wyoming, a meeting with Elsie Eiler, the sole occupant of Monowi, Nebraska (population 1).

The quest originated a decade ago, when Halkias was dating a woman in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, who was a fan of the pizza chain. By the end of their 28-month relationship, he had visited 14 locations. After the breakup, he said, he wanted to see more Pizza Ranches.

Halkias started by trying to visit 10 new locations per year. Even the global pandemic did not thwart him. Last year, after he visited his 100th Pizza Ranch, Halkias decided he had to visit all of them.

Eating all those pizzas and potato wedges has not yet torpedoed his health, Halkias said. His favorite is a slice of the stuffed buffalo chicken pizza, he said, but he’s also been known to skip the buffet and just order a drink to go. He said he works off the calories in his day job as a custodian at a YMCA.

Halkias self-funds his trips and said he does not receive money from the Orange City, Iowa-based restaurant chain. Megan Lovin, a spokeswoman for Pizza Ranch, confirmed that Halkias is paying his own way, but she said the company knows about his commitment and views him as a valued customer.

Halkias’s mother, Elizabeth Pogue, said she marvels at her son’s dedication to his “quirky” quest. She said he was diagnosed with autism at age four. When he was eight, he had difficulties being in large crowds, and it was tough to bring him on trips, she said.

Now, she said, she’s amazed to see her son travel the country. “He’s doing it all on his own and I’m really proud of him for doing that. He’s pretty determined when he wants to do something,” Pogue said.

Halkias said he is proud of living with autism, calling it a part of who he is. “I never shy away from the spotlight,” he said. “I take good pride in what I love to do and who I am.”

His final five locations are in Wisconsin, Tennessee and Iowa. Sioux Center, Iowa, on Oct. 29 is planned as his final stop. After that, Halkias said he still wants to keep visiting new Pizza Ranches when they open.

“The quest will never end,” he said.