Fuel-Hardy Travel

Gas prices not near their tipping-point for certain road trip vacation journeys.

During the 7 days we stayed in West Yellowstone, MT we criss-crossed Yellowstone National Park over and over. Meanwhile, in gateway towns surrounding this vast park, gas prices topped $4.25 a gallon. I imagined those prices would be a real summer vacation show-stopper. The media reports have certainly indicated that consumers at large have all but parked their cars and cancelled long-distance road trips and other fuel-hardy vacations. But according to the steady stream of family cars and RVs everywhere in Yellowstone I have to conclude somewhere there's skewed statistics.

In West Yellowstone the gas station operators I asked reported banner summer volume regardless of pump price. 'K..... a thing that makes you go hmmmmm.

See I think we've vastly underestimated the American desire to hit the road--$4.25 per gallon is not the tipping-point in every travel circumstance. So what is it? The point at which there is a significant brake put on the travel plans? I considered my fuel tipping point...would I curtail road trips at $5.00 a gallon for gas? Probably, in fact had I not been driving through some of the most spectacular areas of America I would have saved my cash, already.

That's it! It's easy for bi-coastal journalists to report travel curtailed in areas around the East Coast megalopolis and in California --although I'd argue vehicle travelers have probably continued to charge up and down the Big Sur highway--highway 101 that twists and turns with every mountain fold along the California coast--that's a spectacular fuel-hardy drive, my friends. And so is a trip to Yellowstone National Park and the Grand Tetons. So-so vacation destinations may show a measured decline in traffic flow, but I'm willing to bet that the spectacular, once in a lifetime drives are still worth $4.25 a gallon.

**Hit the road and make the most of every single minute you have on gas-time...keep a travel log, stop to check out every site you can, take pictures of your travels, save gas on the scenic byways and backroads, but most of all relax, turn off the kids' DVD player, and open your eyes, man.