We drove across the country twice, and kept the receipts. Here’s what it cost.

When my sister and I drove her car from the San Francisco Bay Area to her college in upstate New York in 2023, we kept track of our mileage and our gas costs: $578.99. We figured it would be fun to compare when we drove back across the country in 2026.

We knew the soaring gas prices from the war in the Middle East would push our fuel bill up this time. We just didn’t know how much.

This Friday, as holiday weekend travelers loaded up for their own road trips, the national average price for a gallon of regular was $4.14. That’s the highest ever at this time of year, according to AAA.

And spare a thought for the truckers out there: The price of diesel hit a record $5.85 on Friday.

For me and my newly graduated sister, Zoe, the trip out west back in May was mostly an adventure. But along the way, we spoke to people at gas stations across the country who told us how fuel costs are affecting their lives.

Zoe completed the first leg of the journey herself. She topped off in Lenox, Massachusetts, where we had stopped back in September of 2023. There, she paid almost a full dollar more for almost a full gallon less than we had three years earlier. Off to an expensive start.

Two gas station receipts, one from 2023 and one from 2026, over a map of a portion of Massachusetts.

After she picked me up in New York City, we made our way down south. At a pit stop at Carroll Motor Fuels in Elkton, Maryland, we spoke with Riley Norris, a high school student who said she was expecting to pay over $50 for a full tank.

“I’m literally wiping out probably my whole shift of work today on my gas,” Norris said. “But in a way I do believe Trump when he says that, you know, he’s gonna lower [gas prices], that they’re gonna lower after this whole war with Iran. And I do believe that.”

A woman smiles at the camera while standing at a gas station. The pump is in the car to her left.

Though our route different somewhat in 2026, we did manage to stop at the exact same gas station in Richmond, Virginia, where we’d paid $3.73 in 2023. Zoe and I placed bets on what it would cost this time. She predicted $4.35 a gallon. I went with $4.50, which turned out to be pretty darn close: $4.49.

Two gas station receipts, one from 2023 and one from 2026, over a map of a portion of Virginia.

Driving around Richmond, we spotted a Citgo with what ended up being the cheapest gas we’d see all trip, by far: $2.49 per gallon.

By the time we left Charleston, South Carolina, we had driven about 1,100 miles. On our way out of town, we spoke with Rose Durant and Julia Schultz at an Exxon station. They were expecting gas to cost around $3.90 a gallon. It was $4.19.

Two women smile at the camera. They stand next to a Jeep that has the door open. A gas pump is visible on the right of the frame.

At the same station, we spoke with Monique Middleton, who said she was only putting $15 worth of gas in her tank — a little over 3.5 gallons — because of the extreme price.

“Four dollars and nineteen cents for one gallon is ridiculous,” she said. “Now I gotta head straight home because, with gas prices, you can’t go too far.”

A woman smiles at the camera. She stands at a gas pump, with her hand resting on the car on the left of the frame.

Throughout the 16 states we drove through, political signage was everywhere — yard signs for local candidates, a car with an American flag wrap job and this Trump sticker on a pump at a Marathon station in Savannah, Georgia:

Though the gas in Texas was, on average, cheaper than any of the other states we drove through, the drive through the state was long and hot — did I mention that we were driving in 95-degree heat and our A/C was busted? — and and gas stations were few and far between.

At The Crossing Travel truck stop in Winters, Texas, Malakye Kelly, a senior at Texas Tech, said he expected to pay $30 for half a tank.

“I had to come down [to Amarillo from Lubbock] for the weekend, but I just try to stay home as much as I can,” he said.

A man smiles at the camera. He sits in the driver's seat of a car and wears sunglasses.

In the Interstate 40 village of San Jon, New Mexico, where the closest city is a 30-minute drive away, Carol Flint said she expected to pay $40 for gas.

“We have to drive a lot. We don’t live close to anything,” she said. “So my gas bill has probably gone up about $100 a month.”

A woman smiles at the camera. The photo is taken from behind the car, and a dog is seen sticking its head out the window.

Our stop in San Jon was not random: We were rendezvousing with our cousin Max Hartley and his friend Jaidan Meltzer, who were on their own cross-country road trip from Southern California to Massachusetts.

Once we crossed the border from New Mexico to Arizona, gas rose to over $4.50 per gallon for the first time since Zoe left Massachusetts. At a Maverik station in Holbrook, Arizona, where gas cost $4.55, Landon Cayatineto said that gas is cheaper here than in other areas, but still pricey enough to make him think twice.

“It’s kinda putting more value, it’s putting more emphasis on how I spend my money,” he said. “And a lot more people are becoming more budget-conscious.”

A man looks at the camera. He leans on the car on the right side of the frame. A gas pump is on the left.

In Arizona, we picked up our trail from 2023, so it got easier to compare that trip and this one. In Gila Bend, for instance, we paid $2 less this year for almost a gallon more.

Two gas station receipts, one from 2023 and one from 2026, over a map of a portion of Arizona.

Then came California, and with it the $6 mark.

At a Chevron in Goleta, we paid $39.44 for a little over 6 gallons. That’s about $10 more than we paid in 2023 for practically the same amount at a different stop in the state.

Two gas station receipts, one from 2023 and one from 2026, over a map of a portion of Southern California.

Throughout the trip, Zoe and I filled up on regular, as did most of the people we met along the way. At a Shell station in San Luis Obispo, Ken Macnew was filling up his truck with diesel before embarking on a trip up the coast to the Bay Area. While we were paying just over $6 per gallon of gas, he was paying upwards of $7. He expected to pay about $150 to fill up his truck.

A man smiles at the camera. He is putting a gas pump into his white truck, which reflects signage for Shell in the window.

On June 5, we made it back to the Bay Area and completed our cross-country adventure. At our final fill-up, at a Chevron in Millbrae, we spent $38.47 on 6.41 gallons.

Two gas station receipts, one from 2023 and one from 2026, over a map of a portion of Northern California.

In 14 days on the road, we drove 4,964 miles — 633 fewer than we had in 2023. But the gas bill was still higher: a grand total of $642.38. It would have been closer to $750 if we had covered the same distance, according to AAA.

Making it sting even more: If we had made it to Millbrae on Feb. 27, 2026 — the day before the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran, sending the price of oil through the roof — gas for our nearly 5,000-mile trip would have cost us about $227 less.

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