President Trump is making summer vacations great again

"I saw in their eyes something I was to see over and over in every part of the nation—a burning desire to go, to move, to get underway…"

—John Steinbeck, "Travels with Charley: In Search of America"

It was 65 years ago that John Steinbeck loaded up a GMC pickup with a new-fangled camper shell on top and hit the road to reconnect with America. The book that came out of that trip was the bestselling "Travels with Charley: In Search of America."

As Steinbeck noted, "Nearly every American hungers to move."

And now, America is back on the move again, in part due to the Trump economy and a more hopeful outlook on the future.

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Memorial Day travel by Americans could break a 20-year record this year. AAA expects an estimated 45.1 million people to travel at least 50 miles from home between May 22 and May 26.

"We’re projecting an additional one million travelers this holiday weekend compared to 2019, which not only means we’re exceeding pre-pandemic levels but also signals a very busy summer travel season ahead," notes Paula Twidale, Senior Vice President of AAA Travel.

And in their travels, Americans are celebrating the Trump economy—and their freedom.

Lower gas prices are just the start.

"The average cost of a gallon of regular gasoline hovered around $3.13 nationwide, according to AAA, down from $3.59 a gallon on Memorial Day in 2024," Fox News reports.

Had either the Biden or Harris tickets prevailed last November, those numbers could look quite different. The Biden administration’s war on domestic energy, including the former president’s ham-fisted approach to gas prices, only led to energy prices. And that was the point—the Democratic agenda includes driving up energy prices to force Americans into electric vehicles and into the kind of "low-carbon" lifestyle they never seem to adopt themselves.

Americans made their feelings clear on the Democrats’ "expect less" agenda last November—by returning President Donald Trump to the White House in what amounts to a modern landslide.

And it’s not just energy prices. On Tuesday, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics released the April inflation numbers, and the Trump economy beat expectations—delivering the lowest inflation rate since Joe Biden’s first month in office.

Leading up to the 2024 election, egg prices gained attention, following an outbreak of avian flu. Prices rose so high that they became a campaign issue. When prices remained high after the election, Democrats sought to blame Trump.

Now, however, the price of eggs really is falling. In April, they came down an average of 12.4%, the most since 1984.

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So, more Americans will enjoy an omelet on their summer trip as they celebrate their feelings of being more hopeful about the future, despite the incessant media narrative.

In 2024, YouGov.com conducted a poll that showed how the Biden economy was impacting family travel: "High cost-of-living is the leading dampener on travel plans for nearly three in five Americans (59%) saying it made them cut back. Similar proportions of Americans say they simply can no longer afford travelling (38%) or their circumstances have changed (37%)," the research group reported.

But Americans are back on the road and their outlook is positive.

For his part, Steinbeck knew what the open road meant to Americans.

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"A journey is a person in itself; no two are alike. And all plans, safeguards, policing, and coercion are fruitless. We find after years of struggle that we do not take a trip; a trip takes us," he wrote.

Americans are getting back on the road—where they know, deep down, they belong.