Many Iowans are expected to buckle down financially, buckle up their seat belts and hit the highway this holiday weekend, despite the high price of fuel.Triple-A Motor Club’s Iowa spokesman Daren Van Helden says bounding gas prices are an annoyance but they aren’t killing trips.The motor club predicts a four-percent increase in travel nationwide over the Independence Day weekend, the biggest one-year jump for the holiday since 1993. For the Midwest, a three-percent boost in vacationers is expected. Van Helden says gas prices are much higher than a year ago, but the prices aren’t stopping vacationers.The club’s latest gas price survey puts the national average at a dollar-65 a gallon. For Iowa, it’s a dollar-78. That’s 70 cents higher than the state average a year ago.
