With summer just around the corner, road trip season is quickly approaching.
This trend gained serious momentum amid the COVID-19 pandemic when gas prices plummeted and Americans sought out ways to travel while remaining socially distant.
Fast forward to 2023 and road trips remain an excellent way to explore new destinations. As staffing shortages, outages and other issues plague air travel on top of cramped airplane cabins, look to your car, truck, SUV, motorcycle or RV for your next getaway. You can even rent a car as the industry sees improvements in staffing and inventory in the wake of the coronavirus crisis.
What's more, there's good news regarding gas prices this spring.
"While I'm not yet ready to say 'hey, we're done with the increases,' we're getting close," Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, told Axios. "We're going to peak I believe in the next few weeks and we may not go much higher."
"We are going to see probably pretty large gas deflation from now through hurricane season," added AAA spokesperson Andrew Gross.
Citing the U.S. Energy Information Administration, Axios reports that summer prices could average about $3.50 per gallon, which is 80 cents less than last summer.
Family on vacation. (photo via Apiwan Borrikonratchata / iStock / Getty Images Plus)
If your travels have been limited to your daily commute, now is the time to start planning your journey on the Interstate Highway System. The U.S. is well-connected thanks to a century of highway construction efforts so there's no shortage of spectacular routes to traverse, whether it's the sun-drenched Pacific Coast Highway or historic Route 66 stretching from Chicago to Santa Monica.
Avoid the tolls and take the roads less traveled.
You don't even need to settle on a final destination as so much of the road trip experience involves the things you'll find along the way. Maybe it's a strange roadside attraction, a renowned restaurant or an iconic national park that ultimately becomes the highlight of your trip.
The beauty of a road trip is the in-between.
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