Drivers fuel up for trips despite price

LYNN – He doesn’t like paying more than $3.60 a gallon for gas, but Kallie Jones is planning a Maine summer vacation with his family, and he is not surprised to hear more Americans are taking to the roads this summer compared to past years.”You have to. You work hard so you need to enjoy a little vacation,” said the Lynn resident.The American Automobile Association listed the average price for a gallon of regular brand gasoline in Massachusetts at $3.72 this week. AAA spokesman John Paul said Massachusetts residents paid $3.50 per gallon one year ago, but he said the increase did not keep drivers off the roads last weekend.Paul said a family driving 500 miles last weekend and getting 20 miles to the gallon on the highway paid, on average, $5 dollars more for gas during their trip than they did while gassing up on a similar journey a year ago.AAA estimated 37 million drivers traveled by vehicle during the holiday weekend with New England drivers tying up traffic on roads leading to New Hampshire and Cape Cod. Paul said the summer travel increase is the first documented by AAA since 2007. He credited the rise to the “slow, steady improvement in the economy.””The increase reflects people who deferred vacations and finally said, ?You know what? It’s time to go,'” he said.Wisconsin resident Ervin Nettekoven and his wife typically spend their summers on the lake near their home, but they just finished a trip with relatives to Cape Cod. They flew from their home state and rented a car to drive around Massachusetts. Most travelers who Nettekoven knows do not let gas prices throw them off their plans.Kam Guilmet of Salem plans to take three 600-mile round trip-drives through the end of this year, and he will offset steep gas prices by driving the family minivan instead of a larger vehicle.He thinks rising and falling gas prices are a way of life people take in stride, but Jones said he grins and bears high gas prices when he is driving his family to fun destinations like Six Flags amusement park.”It’s expensive, but it doesn’t really affect my plans,” he said.Annie Bolthrunis carefully mapped out her gas purchase strategy before driving to Philadelphia two weeks ago. She typically travels with another person who shares gas costs, but her solo trip meant avoiding gassing up in New York, where prices are more expensive.”I really had to think about where I was stopping. Just getting into Philly was 10 cents cheaper,” she said.She spent $75 driving to and from Pennsylvania, partly by parking her car in Philadelphia and traveling in the city with cousins.Paul on Tuesday said short-term indicators point to a drop in wholesale gasoline prices. Instability in major oil producer Iraq and trade market speculation on gas prices make the long-term price forecast murkier. Paul said the best way for cost conscious drivers to hedge their bets against rising prices is to avoid a lead foot.”Driving the speed limits makes a difference,” he advised.