As national gas average nears $5, Minnesotans are rethinking summer travel
MAPLE GROVE, Minn. -- One trip to the KOA Campgrounds in Maple Grove is all it takes to see how rising gas prices are impacting Minnesotan's summer plans.
As statewide averages near $4.75 Friday, many are making the decision to host a vacation closer to home.
For Bob and Tiffany Gross, that means taking their trailer just miles from their Big Lake home – far from the cross-country trips they'd envisioned when purchasing it three years ago.
"We have gone to Duluth in the past, but we're not this year because it's a long ways away," said Tiffany Gross.
"When it's almost five dollars a gallon, times that by 35 gallons, it gets to be a lot," Bob Gross said.
Others at the campground feel the same way – saying their camping trips cost twice as much as last year in gas alone.
"I'm going to be 67 this year," said Mike Hansen, who traveled from Esko. "I was planning on slowing down, but now with inflation I'm going to keep working for a while longer because who knows what's going to happen."
While campers who did travel from multiple states away, sacrifices are made elsewhere to compensate for the price of fuel.
Rob Wood and his family traveled from Lee's Summit, Missouri. While they say traveling is worth it, they've also made cutbacks in other areas to save money.
"It's put a dent in the budget, a little bit," Wood said.
The Gross family says they hope their cross country plans are only on hold temporarily.
"It's going to be down the road, because that's really expensive to pull a camper to the Grand Canyon," Tiffany Gross said.
