Despite record-high gas prices, nearly 35 million Americans are expected to travel by car over the Memorial Day weekend.

The estimate by auto club AAA would mark a 4.6% increase over 2021. 

As of Friday, the average price for a gallon of regular gas in the U.S. was $4.599 — a speck shy of the record of $4.60 set a day earlier. 

California drivers are paying the most to fuel up — $6.077 a gallon on average. The average price in all 50 states is at least $4.10, with Hawaii, Nevada, Washington, Alaska and Oregon drivers paying more than $5.

"Since I've been driving, which has been a long time, we never had to budget. … Gas was not something you budgeted for," Bill Schreiber told Spectrum News 1 Rochester in New York as he pumped more than $200 of fuel into his work truck.

But the high gas prices don’t appear to be scuttling too many Memorial Day travel plans.

Ryan Becker, spokesman for Visit California, the state’s nonprofit tourism agency, said there is a lot of “pent-up demand” from earlier in the pandemic. People are saying, “I want to get out, I want to travel. I’ve had to put my anniversary trip on hold, I’ve had to put my 40th birthday trip on hold,” Becker said.

The gas prices, however, have deterred some from traveling. 

Laura Dena and her sons would typically go to Southern California around Memorial Day weekend to escape Arizona’s scorching heat. This year, because it takes at least $100 to fill up her truck, they’re staying home.

“It’s really frustrating," said Dena while waiting in line in 90-degree heat for a pump at a Costco in Phoenix. "It’s upsetting, but there’s not much we can do. We have to pay the price.”

AAA says this Memorial Day weekend, which marks the unofficial start of summer, will be the busiest for travel in two years. Overall, 39.2 million people are expected to travel, an 8.3% increase from last year. 

In addition to the 34.9 million estimated to travel by car, 3 million will fly to their destinations and 1.3 million will take buses, trains or cruise ships.

Compared to last year, 25% more people are flying and 200% are using bus, train or cruises, according to AAA. Air travel is almost back to its pre-pandemic levels.

Paula Twidale, senior vice president for AAA Travel, said Memorial Day is a good predictor for summer travel trends.

“Based on our projections, summer travel isn’t just heating up, it will be on fire,” she said in a statement. “People are overdue for a vacation and they are looking to catch up on some much-needed R&R in the coming months.”

And, of course, more cars on the highways mean more traffic. INRIX, a transportation analytics company, predicts drivers in some major metro areas could experience delays Friday afternoon that double travel times compared to a normal trip. 

Some of the worst corridors are in Detroit, Houston, Los Angeles and Seattle.

“Even with a significant increase in gas prices, we expect a large jump in holiday driving compared to the last few years,” Bob Pishue, INRIX transportation analyst, said in a statement. “Drivers should expect congestion on major roadways around big cities and popular destinations. Knowing when and where congestion will build can help drivers avoid the stress of sitting in traffic.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.