Pioneer Woman Ree Drummond Shares Sweet, Low-Key Date Night Tradition with Husband Ladd

Ree Drummond and her husband Ladd’s go-to date night is far from fancy — and that’s just the way they like it.

The Pioneer Woman star, 56, revealed in a new blog post on her website that she and her cattle rancher husband, also 56, love to sneak away and go for a drive together. They began their low-key date night tradition when their kids were little and life was busy.

Many years later, whenever they have a free Friday or Saturday night, they still love to hop in Ladd’s pickup truck and head off.

“At the risk of sounding like an old married couple,” Ree said, “we love to take drives together.”

As they take in the scenery, they talk about their family, their Oklahoma ranch and anything else that may be on their minds.

“There’s something about the peace of the pickup,” Ree noted. “That diesel engine is like background music, and we are focused only on each other. No laptops, devices, TVs — it’s such a great time to catch up.”

And usually, they don’t know where the road will lead them.

“Honestly, it’s different every time,” Ree said of their destination. “Sometimes we stay on the county roads and check on fences or cattle; other times we’ll drive east to Pawhuska or west to Ponca City, stopping to get a convenience store Dr. Pepper when we get there.”

She continued, “Other times Ladd will drive into this pasture or that, to show me an area of a creek that I may not have seen before, or — again — to check on a cow or a fence.”

The Food Network veteran said their one-on-one truck talks are always special.

“Now that we’re empty nesters, it’s not like we don’t have lots of time alone at home already. But there’s something about the safety and sanctity of the pickup that sparks the very best conversations,” she said, per the blog post.

Ree and Ladd have been married since 1996 and share five children: daughters Alex, 28, and Paige, 25, and sons Bryce, 22, Jamar, 22, and Todd, 21. The couple will celebrate their 30th wedding anniversary next September.

When they marked their 25th anniversary in 2021, Ree shared a touching tribute to Ladd on Instagram, alongside a pair of photos from their wedding and two more recent snapshots.

“It’s been a wild adventure, and we’ve experienced the joys, pains, ups, downs, triumphs, sadnesses, and unexpected twists and turns. (And kids! 🤓),” she wrote. “That whole ‘love’ thing — the love that deepens, expands and becomes more firmly rooted over time — is definitely there.”

In a 2017 interview with PEOPLE, Ree shared that the couple’s faith has kept their marriage strong through the years.

“We go to church together every Sunday,” she said at the time. “It’s something that we do no matter what comes up. No matter how tired we are. I’ve seen the times that we’ve slipped away from that, and disaster is lurking in the bushes.”