Nightly News | April 22, 2011
Pain at the pump puts holidays on hold
High gas prices are forcing some to curb annual Easter trips and stretch their dollar to the last drop. NBC’s Kristen Welker reports.
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This content comes from Closed Captioning that was broadcast along with this program.
>>> here in the u.s., heading into easter weekend , gas prices ticked up another cent to an average of $3.85 a gallon for unleaded regular. that's noogzwide. and as we're painfully aware, the latest move up in a relentless rise since late last year, and it's having the affect of keeping a lot of folks home this weekend. kristen welker is in l.a. tonight. good evening.
>> reporter: good evening, brian. while we were setting up for the live shot, the price of gas increased by two cents at this california station wrrg. it's now more than $5 for a gallon of mid-grade. it's been increasing over the past 12 weeks. a lot of people saying they're staying home this weekend.
>> say cheese.
>> craig and mary jo from charlotte, north carolina , usually drive to sarasota, florida, to see grandma on easter, but not this year.
>> gas is over $4 a gallon. we decided not to travel an eight-hour or ten-hour trip to see family.
>> they're not alone. fewer people are visiting popular spring time attractions including mt. rainier, the yellowstone, and the everglades.
>> the northern california branch of aaa says they have seen a 26% increase in drivers calling them for help after they've run out of gas.
>> as the prices go up, people may not have as much money in their budget for gas as they use to, so they may be trying to stretch it out.
>> reporter: in fact, gas sales have been down for seven straight weeks.
>> i'm just the delivery guy.
>> reporter: today, he delivers 9,000 gallons to this shell station. the owner says she may not need it all this weekend.
>> we're losing money because the people doesn't buy gas as much as before.
>> reporter: but it could be worse. canadians are actually traveling to the u.s. because our gas is less expensive. a global problem that is hitting close to home on a holiday weekend. now, gas in canada is about a dollar more expensive than it is at this station, but it seems we're catching umquickly. brian.
>> kristen welker on the rising prices there. thanks.