Mike Pingitore works as a landscaper, but sky-high gas prices are turning the Roseville resident into an expert accountant — especially when it comes to traveling to his summer home in northern Michigan.
This year, he’s staying home for the Fourth of July instead of heading to his cottage near Mio, east of Grayling.
“My place up north is 212 miles away door to door,” Pingitore said. “My Chevrolet Silverado one-ton pickup has a 40-gallon tank. It used to cost me about $80 to fill the tank; now it’s more than double that. I used to go up a couple of times a month to cut the grass. … Now it’s cheaper to stay home and pay $25 to a local to cut the grass than to drive all the way up there.”
High gas prices are causing a chilling effect on summer travel plans and overall spending nationwide, according to an Associated Press-Yahoo News poll released Monday.
Nine in 10 of those polled said they expect ballooning fuel costs to squeeze them financially over the next half-year, with half of all respondents convinced that the hardship will be serious. Seven out of 10 people are driving less, according to the survey.
Pingitore won’t be enjoying his boat, either.
“It has a 55-gallon tank and that’s another $200,” Pingitore said. “It’s gotten to the point where a person has to work a day to a day and a half just to drive out of town.”
According to AAA Michigan, gasoline prices soared to a new record for the state this week, jumping by 9 cents in the past seven days to top out at an average of $4.18 for a gallon of regular in Metro Detroit and statewide — $1.11 per gallon higher than this time last year. Diesel drivers have it even worse, with the statewide average for diesel at a staggering $4.79 per gallon.
An estimated 1.1 million Michiganians will take to the roads this week for Fourth of July, according to AAA Michigan — a drop of .08 percent from last year. Another 110,000 will travel by air.
Many of those motorists are expected to stay closer to home, according to Travel Michigan, the state agency that handles tourism.
“That’s what we’re hearing from our local contacts,” said Kirsten Borgstrom, Travel Michigan spokeswoman. “This is what we more or less expected since gas prices are so high this summer.”
She said many retailers and tourist resorts are offering discounts, gas cards and rebates to compensate for higher fuel costs.
Travel Michigan’s Web site — www.michigan.org — has been recording a record number of hits from Michigan residents looking for a good deal.
Web site visitors are particularly interested in the site’s “One Tank Trips” feature, which offers suggestions for places for motorists to visit without having to refuel the gas tank, Borgstrom said.
One of the most popular ways that Michiganians are cutting back on travel and travel-related costs are by taking advantage of the state’s more than 12,000 campsites. As of Monday, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources reported a 92 percent occupancy rate.
“We’re almost completely full,” said Paul Augsburger, supervisor of the 4,300-acre Proud Lake Recreation Area, in Commerce Township. “We’re an urban campground and we’re seeing more and more people from local communities like Farmington and Walled Lake. I talked with one family last week who said they always went camping up near Traverse City; but now they’re coming to camp with us because we’re closer. Gas prices are taking their toll, but I think we’re going to see more repeat local visitors because of the high prices.”
Campers at Proud Lake this week include the Gambee family of Commerce Township.
“With the way gas prices are it’s cheaper than going up north,” said Kelli Gambee, who was camping Monday with her husband, Tony, and their two children. “We usually camp up north … but this year, we’ll camp here more often.”
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