By Alicia Agent

The windows are down. The radio is up. With my foot on the accelerator, I feel a soothing breeze. And as the sun warms my skin through the windshield, I feel at ease.

It doesn’t take much to make me happy. All I need is my car, a good cd, and a stretch of highway.

During my first two years of college, I realized a tank of gas and several miles could make me happy. Most people would have dreaded the winding commute from Stigler to Eastern Oklahoma State College in Wilburton, but I enjoyed it.

My mother, however, worried about my driving down the curvy roads and up along the edges of deer-filled mountains. But I soon learned every twist, turn, and bump of the road.

With each semester there was a new season. As I drove to and from classes, I witnessed what Mother Nature could do to the wooded landscape of Robber’s Cave State Park. The leaves changed and fell from the trees. The lake and creeks beside the road would rise and fall accordingly with the rain.

Even when winter weather came to cover everything in ice and snow, or when the morning fog made the forest seem almost eerie, I still didn’t mind the drive.

Sometimes I drove home late at night after spending hours working in the newsroom. Besides the occasional deer or armadillo, I shared the road with no one. There was something relaxing about driving along while the rest of the world was asleep. It seemed as though the stars were awake just for me and the moon shined bright to light my way home.

Thinking about it now, the experience really was a guilty pleasure. It’s a shame there is a road cutting through the park and countryside.

But even though the idea is as clichéd as a Chrysler commercial, with each mile I was closer to happiness.