YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK, Wyo. RVs keep rolling despite gas prices

<p>In the heart of Yellowstone National Park on a recent warm day, all 358 spaces at the Fishing Bridge Recreational Vehicle Park were jammed with RVs.</p><p>Despite high fuel prices and a sputtering economy that have hurt RV sales, plenty of the gas-guzzling rigs have taken to the road this summer.</p><p>"If you want to stay out here and do this, you just suck it up and go," said Leyman Williams, lounging on a folding chair outside his 39-foot RV at Fishing Bridge.</p><p>With diesel prices above $4 a gallon much of the summer, filling the 90-gallon tank means shelling out about $400.</p><p>More than 1.1 million RVs visited National Park Service campgrounds through the first seven months of this year, according to preliminary figures.</p><p>The numbers are down about 6 percent from the same period last year, said Park Service spokesman Jeffrey Olson. But July and August are the busiest months for RV camping in national parks and many campers are out during the fall, he said.</p><p>A survey earlier this year by the Virginia-based Recreation Vehicle Industry Association found that high fuel prices weren't stopping RV travelers, but in some cases were prompting shorter trips, said spokesman Kevin Broom.</p><p>Broom maintains RVs are still an economical way to vacation because RV users save money on the motel and restaurant bills that are part of traveling by airline or car.</p><p>"The savings overwhelm any fuel cost increases, especially when you can adjust by instead of, say, taking a 1,000-mile trip, you take a 100-mile trip," he said.</p><p>-- Associated Press</p>