SAN ANTONIO – With a full tank and a fishing rod, Reggie Romswinckel is summer road-tripping.
“I’m on my way to Corpus Christi right now,” he said.
He’s fueling his drive with $2 per gallon gas, some of the cheapest in town Tuesday at the Murphy Express on Perrin Beitel at Thousand Oaks.
Gas prices have tapered over the past month, falling 14 cents locally. Prices are 37 cents a gallon cheaper than the same time last year.
Declining prices and a strong economy are fueling the travel bug, according to industry analysts. Some 75 percent of people surveyed by Gas Buddy said they are planning a summer road trip. That’s 16 percent more than last summer.
So what will that road trip cost you, at least for the gas?
If you load up the family SUV that gets 30 miles to the gallon on the highway and leave this week, a road trip to New Orleans and back would cost about $85. That’s according to AAA’s trip calculator.
If you’re headed to Disney World in that same SUV, gas would run you about $183 for the round trip.
Analysts say they expect the price at the pump to continue to decrease, although there could be bumps along the way. Some risks that could cause a bump at the pump are refinery outages, trade issues with China and tensions with Iran.
As for Romswinckel, he’s ready to hit the road. After fishing, he’s California-bound in his large SUV that gets 19 miles to the gallon.
“Eighteen point nine, actually,” he said. “But I don’t have a lead foot.”