August 27, 2003 -- First, the bad news: gas prices are the highest they've been since the war in Iraq in March, and in some parts of the country, they're the highest they've ever been. Nightly news programs have been near-hysterical in their proclamation of sky-high vacation costs.
But don't let that get you down. Driving is still cost-effective for Labor Day weekend trips.
According to the Department of Energy, gas prices took a sharp spike up last week, and according to American Automobile Association (AAA) spokespeople, they're not likely to come down by this weekend. Nationally, prices are up 12 cents per gallon over last week, and 34.4 cents over a year ago. Consumers on the West Coast are hardest hit; prices in California now top $2.10 per gallon, more than 50 cents above last year's rates. Gas prices in Arizona have reached record highs of $2/gallon, according to the AAA.
That's a huge psychological shock when you get to the pump. But look at the larger picture, and you'll see that driving is still affordable. If your weekend plans involve driving 400 miles each way in a minivan getting 20 miles per gallon -- that's roughly the distance from Los Angeles to San Francisco, and almost double the distance from Phoenix to the Grand Canyon -- the cost of your trip has only gone up by $4.80 since last week, the price of a six-pack of domestic beer.
Even if you use the most dire statistics, the price of an 800-mile roundtrip in California has gone up by $20 since last year. That's an unfortunate increase, but it's also only the price of two bottles of decent Napa Valley wine or of two movie tickets in Santa Monica, and it's half the price of a one-day Disneyland ticket for ages 10 and up.
Finding the Cheapest Gas
Gas prices are up because of refineries that shut down during the Northeast blackout, because of a broken pipeline in Arizona, and because of lower-than-expected oil production in Iraq thanks to attacks on the country's oil industry, news reports say.
But you can still scheme to find the cheapest gas around. If you're driving from California to Nevada, for instance, you can save an average of 16 cents per gallon by filling up in Nevada, according to the AAA (https://198.6.95.31/sbsavg.asp). Click on a state, then on "View Metro Areas" to see gas prices for all the major cities in the state you're traveling to, so you can scheme where to fill up.
Get even more precise at GasBuddy (www.gasbuddy.com), a collection of volunteer Web sites where people track gas prices within their cities. If you're filling up in Tucson, for instance, you can save 15 cents per gallon by skipping the Mobil station at 5th and Alvernon and filling up instead at the Frys at 1st and Roger, according to the site.
Gas prices change quickly, but still, we'd recommend printing out a few pages from GasBuddy right before you hit the road.
We'd also recommend GasPriceWatch (www.gaspricewatch.com), but the site seems to have shut down since our last mention of it in this Newsletter. Calls to the site owner weren't answered, and the site's ISP says GasPriceWatch is sending out a blank home page.
Do you have a tip for savings at the pump? How do you get the best gas mileage? Tell us all about it in our Road Trips Message Boards by clicking here.