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American Morning
Low Gas Prices Facilitate Road Travel for Holidays
Aired November 20, 2001 - 09:26 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Millions of Americans are ready to rev up their engines and hit the road for Thanksgiving, and one thing those drivers may be giving thanks for is sharply lower gas prices. Let's turn to Jeff Flock, who is in Hammond, Indiana. Let's see if I can see you this time. You're making me very nervous when you hide behind the pump there. There you are!
JEFF FLOCK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I was --
ZAHN: Good morning Jeff.
FLOCK: I was sorry I was -- Good morning to you. I was just talking to this gentlemen here. You say you're a plumber, sir, right?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, sir.
FLOCK: How much to fill up that tank?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 60 bucks.
FLOCK: Now, what -- that's a $1.20, right? Now, what happens if it goes up to one sixty, one seventy?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Eighty --
FLOCK: Is that right?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Eighty dollars.
FLOCK: So, this is real good news for you.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, it's great. Do a lot of traveling. Go back and forth from the north side of Chicago. Sometimes in Indiana.
FLOCK: Yeah. So this is great. And one question before we get away, and that is, Thanksgiving -- you going away at all, and if so, by air or by car?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, staying here.
FLOCK: OK. Appreciate I'm going to let you get back to work, sir.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A lot of people, though, are planning, Paula, to travel by car. According to AAA, 87% of the people they surveyed said they're going to travel by car for Thanksgiving and that would be the highest percentage of people doing so since they've been conducting that survey. Now, where are the good spots to be driving around this holiday season? Well, the bad spots we can tell you first of all. That is places -- states like Washington State, Idaho, California. They have the highest average fuel prices if you factor out, that is, Alaska and Hawaii which typically have much higher prices. And if you look at the lowest, that would be our friends down in Georgia at about $1.03 a gallon, and, I think, Missouri, South Carolina are other places where gas prices are low. One another thing we want to tell you before we get away here is that -- already it appears based on our little straw poll out here this morning that the -- not so -- not so difficult in terms of morning rush this morning, the expressway which is off to our right, you can't see it. Pretty calm this morning. So some people may have already started that. As we said, if we believe the AAA at all, a lot of people behind the wheel this Thanksgiving. That's the latest from Hammond, Indiana. Wish you were here.
ZAHN: Thank you, Jeff, I'd love to be there. You know, I actually spent a lot of time in that area. I grew up in Chicago, and we would head that way to the Indiana dunes. So I know that area well.
FLOCK: I know, it's just not too far from here. You're absolutely right. It's beautiful.
ZAHN: Have a good holiday, Jeff.
FLOCK: Are you driving or flying this holiday season?
ZAHN: I'm going to go fly and see my mom down in Florida, so -- she's watching. Hi, Mom.
ZAHN: She'll be delighted to have that early holiday greeting. Thanks, Jeff. Take care.
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