Oklahoma, where the wind comes sweepin’ down the plain, and the wavin’ wheat can sure smell sweet when the wind comes behind the rain. Sometimes you just need a big open space. Sometimes you need the freedom of the Great Plains and the serenity of massive fields of wheat and little else for as far as the eye can see. Sometimes you need a state that’s rich with Native American history that provides a unique texture to your surroundings. Sometimes you need to hop in your car and drive through a state like Oklahoma.
And driving is something that Oklahomans do plenty of. On average, drivers in the state will log about 20,571 miles annually, and they’ll do so in the more than 3 million vehicles that are registered within Oklahoma. There are nearly 2,000 dealerships throughout the state with cars for sale, many of which contribute to the some $18 billion in new car sales, helping to keep afloat the 63,250 auto industry jobs found there as well.
Oklahoma has some unique bits of automobile trivia baked into its profile as well. For instance, there’s a McDonald’s restaurant in Vinita built right over Interstate 44. The restaurant stretches the width of the highway and customers can sit and eat while watching the traffic zoom below. The world’s first YIELD sign was designed and implemented in Tulsa by Clinton Riggs and the world’s first parking meter was implemented in Oklahoma City in 1935.
Just be sure that when you’re driving through Oklahoma, you don’t read a comic book while behind the wheel. That’s against the law.
