PORT MATILDA, CENTRE COUNTY - Gas prices have topped the charts this year. So much so, experts predict prices will set a record for 2012.
The yearly national average price we pay at the pump will be around $3.63 per gallon.
That breaks the previous record price, set in 2011, with an average price of $3.51 per gallon.
No matter how hard you try, there's no way to avoid it.
"I just put 75, 21 gallons," Brad Holzapfel said.
And now, filling up your tank has reached an all time high.
"It takes money away from other things you do," Holzapfel said.
Holzapfel sees just how far the pump is reaching into his pockets.
"I mean, you have to think about it," he said. "I mean I used to drive to Bedford, we have a hunting camp, I used to drive there hunting all the time. I make those trips less often now cause it's a half a tank of gas to get down there and back, so I just don't travel as much."
Deneen McClain sees the affects of high prices at the pump, too. They're even changing her holiday travel plans this year.
"We were going to go to New York, but it does affect us as to how, which, are we going to go to New York to visit the brother-in-law or are we going to go to Maryland to visit the mother-in-law, so it will depend on, this is going to affect, we're not going to be able to do both trips," she said.
Gas prices could still fall in these last few weeks of the year, but those numbers would have to plummet to $2.35 per gallon to change the overall cost.
