How to Take a Gas Holiday

Even a road trip can feel like a luxury when it costs $75 to fill the fuel tank. That's why Ronelle Scardina, 39, scrapped plans to drive 400 miles to Disneyland in Anaheim, Calif., this July and decided instead to rent a cabin on a lake just two hours from her home in San Rafael. "Prices are going up on everything, and we have a mortgage and a family to support," says the working mom, who expects to scrimp even more by packing her family of four into her 1994 Honda Civic instead of taking her roomier--but gas-slurping--SUV.

High fuel prices...