Road Trip Down Oklahoma’s Twistiest Routes

The more things change, the more they stay the same across Oklahoma. I can't believe I'm going to speak these words, but... back in my day... we used to spend our free time outside of school and work just driving around the Sooner State.

Our entire generation cruised Grand Avenue on Friday and Saturday nights in my hometown until it was time to hit Cornerstone for cheese fries and homemade ranch. Gas was 89¢ a gallon, you could buy nearly six gallons for an hour of minimum wage work, and the open road was just something we did as a legit hobby.

Post-9/11, gas skyrocketed, and the pleasure cruising came to an abrupt end, but the newest generation of Zoomers is back in the driver's seat, especially in rural Oklahoma.

My 18-year-old nephew and all of his friends have discovered the freedom of the open road. Sometimes they cruise out to the local lake and park their gargantuan diesel trucks in a circle of modern brotherhood, while other times they'll just hop out on a dirt road and wind up randomly in another town 100 miles away.

Shoutout to Skiatook - all roads in Northern OK lead there.

Even weirder, some of my dad's old buddies have rediscovered their love of muscle cars. From new and vintage Mustangs and Camaros to one hilariously large old man in a sporty Miata, they're burning up the roads these days, too.

Having been part of one of their conversations, in the truest sense of "be seen but not heard," they talked about the best roads to cruise, like anyone else would talk about whatever their hobbies tend to be. It was amazing to see the overlap between our youngest and oldest drivers, they're all after the same thrills.