TULSA, Okla. — With gas prices nearly 40 cents cheaper than this time last year, more Oklahomans are hitting the road. AAA Oklahoma says it’ll be the 3rd busiest Thanksgiving travel season since they started tracking in 2001.
Inside the Reeder’s in Tulsa, Marcy Toler picked up some snacks for the road.
“We are spending the day in Tulsa with our kids and some of our friends going to the Gathering Place,” said Marcy Toler.
She lives in Oklahoma City and while her travel is just a day trip, many other Oklahomans are heading out for the Thanksgiving holiday.
“We’ll see family and we’ll have a real good time especially up on the lake,” said Roy Clugston.
Roy Clugston will spend Thanksgiving in Grove. The nearly 100 mile trip had him filling up his tank Tuesday afternoon.
“Overall, we’re seeing a bigger trend of people taking off on the road today,” said Ross Ledbetter.
Ross Ledbetter, owner of Reeder’s, sees the influx of travelers every year at this time.
“We’ve seen a lot of people come in early to get fuel,” said Ledbetter. "Our shop is extremely busy. People have put off all that maintenance and now they’re saying, oh we’re driving to grandma’s we need new tires. We need to get this checked out before we go.”
AAA Oklahoma says the cheaper gas prices this year are bringing out more drivers.
In Tulsa on Tuesday, the average price for a gallon of regular gas is $2.68. It’s well below the national average of $3.30.
“People don’t have as big of an impact on their wallets as they did last year, so they’re more comfortable driving longer distances to see their family,” said Rylie Fletcher.
Rylie Fletcher with AAA Oklahoma says more than 440,000 Oklahomans will drive to their Thanksgiving destination this year. They’ll be among the 55.4 million Americans traveling for the holiday.
“That’s going to be a lot busier on the roadways than we’re used to seeing,” said Fletcher.
With the extra cars on the road, AAA is expecting to respond to more than 4,000 calls across the state from Wednesday through Sunday with more than half of those drivers needing a tow.
“There will be an influx of calls these next few days of people stranded on the roadside,” said Fletcher.
It’s the reason they want drivers to check their cars before getting on the road, so the holiday doesn’t come with any unexpected hiccups.
“Just time together,” said Toler. “Time to slow down and relax and enjoy on another.”
Wednesday is expected to be the busiest travel day of the week. AAA says if you’re driving, you can expect rush hour traffic conditions most of the day.
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