By Tim Engstrom

Fergus Falls Daily Journal

Fueled by the cheapest November gas prices in years, Americans are expected to travel more for Thanksgiving this year than any year since before the Great Recession.

AAA last week forecast that 48.7 million Americans will travel for the holiday, the busiest Thanksgiving Week on U.S. roads and in the skies since 2007.

AAA said that between Nov. 23 and 27, a full million more Americans will travel at least 50 miles from their home compared to last year’s Thanksgiving holiday.

Gas prices are at their lowest since March, with a national average of $2.14 per gallon, according to AAA. The Minnesota average is $1.95, it says.

The Fergus Falls average is $1.99, according to Gas Buddy.

Around Minnesota, the gas averages today are: Austin, $1.91; Duluth, $1.94; Twin Cities, $1.99; Rochester, $1.99; St. Cloud, $1.97, according to www.minnesotagasprices.com.

The automobile club says North Dakota is $2.10 and South Dakota is $2.14. It says Wisconsin is $2.01, and Iowa is $2.04.

According to Gas Buddy, prices were as low as $1.75 Friday in parts of Minnesota.

For a 350-mile round-trip from Fergus Falls to the Twin Cities, for example, for a car that gets 25 mpg, this year’s trip will cost nearly $15 less than 2014.

Other than a few months last winter, this is the cheapest gas prices have been since 2008, after the Great Recession hit hard and Americans curtailed their driving.

AAA estimates U.S. drivers have saved more than $28 billion so far at the pumps this year compared to the same period last year.

The AAA travel forecast was assembled at research firm IHS, which said it considered jobs, household net worth, the stock market, prices for gasoline and airline tickets, and other factors.

The forecast calls for 43.5 million Americans to take long car trips, 1.9 percent more than last year. AAA expects 3.7 million will travel by air, a 1.6 percent increase. Bus and train trips will grow less than 1 percent, the auto group said.