Trucks on Oklahoma Roads Sure Have Changed These Days

So a few of us got together for a meal over at the Rib Crib the other day, and the conversation meandered from the wild record-setting weather Oklahoma is having to the topic of Thanksgiving.

No offense to Halloween, but Thanksgiving really is the first big family holiday of the season. It's the time of year it seems almost every Oklahoman hops on the highway to head home to Mom and Dad's for a meal and fun with the rest of the family.

An entire state on the roads for one day.

I don't know if your travels take you through the two big metro areas of Oklahoma City and Tulsa, but mine do. Some years I have to drive through both in one day, and it's always Car-mageddon.

OKC's traffic is bumper to bumper the entire 48.3 miles from entering the metro to exiting the metro every year. It moves at the speed of smell.

And I-44 between OKC and Tulsa is a lawless Oklahoma Autobahn - if you know, you know. And Tulsa isn't much better. With so much constant construction, there are only two roads through the entire city.

In talking about this, there is a difference between getting where you're going and doing so in style. I suppose with a few creature comforts, the drudgery of the drive isn't so noticeable.

It's all about comfort.

You hear me talk about Southwest GMC quite a bit. Like how they're the brand new dealership in Lawton/Fort Sill, and as such they're doing things very differently than we've been used to.

Big city things like best price and price match guarantees, VIP buying experiences for everyone, and treating potential customers like people instead of paydays - it's a good change for the auto industry in a military town.

Southwest GMC General Manager Darrin Swenson was at lunch with us recently and offered me a whole new experience. While I'm currently living my early-old man era, driving the same beloved truck I've had forever, Darrin gave me a demo GMC Sierra for the holiday season, and I'm floored by how far pickups have come in the last twenty years.

The difference between my GMC Sierra Classic SLE and the 2025 GMC Sierra Denali Ultimate might as well be night and day. I mean, sure, at the core they're both commercial-grade trucks, but the definition of "luxury pickup" has changed vastly in the last twenty years.

This thing has everything. Big screens, Android Auto, an iPhone equivalent, cameras all over to monitor where the vehicle is, air conditioning and heaters in the seats - even a massage function that feels pretty wild driving down the road.

The safety features are pretty shocking, too. The vehicle looks out for others on the road for you. If you stray within your lane, it lets you know and corrects it. If people are in your blind spot, it'll let you know. This truck even has an auto-pilot function that will allow you to let the truck drive itself down America's most-traveled roads, and in the event you lull yourself to sleep behind the wheel, it will safely pull itself over.

That should be handy on the endless boring drive between Lawton and OKC.

The biggest difference I'm looking forward to during this demo is the fuel mileage. This truck is equipped with the 3.0L Durmax "Mini-Max" engine.

The biggest hurdle for driving a full-size truck is the fuel economy. While they've gotten more efficient over the years, most of us have accepted 14 MPG with a strong tailwind as the best-case scenario.

From what I've read online about these engines over the years, I should expect to get upwards of 30 MPG down the highway.

Who says big power can't be efficient?

While I'm only a few dozen miles into my weeks-long test drive, I'd like to invite you along for the ride. It should be a pretty awesome experience.

Content sponsored by Southwest Buick GMC.