I’ve taken about half my vacation time so far this year and for most of the two separate weeks, I stayed home and worked on my newly renovated kitchen, cleaned and basically enjoyed not having deadlines to meet.

Most years I save as much of my four-week vacation as I can and we plan a long driving trip somewhere on the continent, usually in September or October.

We have driven south as far as Monterey, Mexico, and north as far as Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.

We’ve been up and down the East Coast from Maine to the beaches of Florida at Daytona. Other trips have been taken across the Great Lakes from Chicago to New York and into Ontario, Canada.

We’ve made a number trips out west to California, visiting several places from the southern part around Los Angeles northward to Santa Barbara, Lompoc, Fresno and San Francisco.

Last year we headed west again, this time, along a route through the central part of the country that we had not taken before. Usually, our western excursions take us either to the far south through Tennessee, Louisiana, Texas, Arizona and New Mexico or north to Minnesota, then across North or South Dakota to Montana then south again through Utah and the high desert of Nevada to California.

Last September, we went across Kansas.

Now, we have traveled the prairies of Canada previously, but Kansas ... well, let’s just say it takes a long time to cross and there aren’t too many changes in the physical scenery.

Colorado and southern Nevada, on the other hand, offer a feast of scenery that is ever changing as you make your way from Las Vegas through stony gorges into the Mojave Desert.

This year, we won’t be making one of those trips.

The price of gas will keep us at home.

Trips to Georgia, Tennessee or New Hampshire to visit family on holiday weekends were a treat we often enjoyed along with a week or so to Minnesota and Montana. But, not this year.

For nearly 15 years we had a little 1991 Geo Metro that we took on many trips. One of the long ones racked up about 4,800 miles on the little car and another about 6,500. That car averaged 48 miles per gallon of gas. The only cars that get that kind of mileage today are hybrids.

There’s something wrong with this picture.

Our friends and family in the far west have been telling us stories about gas selling for $4 or more in some places. In some of the places we travel, gas stations are few and far between and station operators apparently have no compunction about taking advantage of that. While we have met others who refuse to play that game and their prices are well below those of nearby stations.

Locally, I’ve been amazed at the difference in gas prices across state lines.

We frequently travel from our home in West Virginia to a number of places in Pennsylvania, Maryland, D.C. and Virginia.

Stations in Virginia are the cheapest per gallon, averaging about 5 to 10 cents less than Maryland and West Virginia respectively. Pennsylvania gas prices this past weekend were running about the same as Maryland. West Virginia gas prices have been running the highest in the region, up to $3.78 in Keyser at one point.

As gas prices have continued to climb, folks inclined to thievery have taken to stealing larger amounts of the commodity from vehicles that are accessible.

I asked my husband if he thought we should get locking gas caps and then I saw a story about how people are simply punching holes in gas tanks to take the now-valuable liquid.

That’s scary because the fumes from a punctured tank can catch fire when you attempt to start the vehicle, causing serious injury.

These things are happening here and now, so precautions are a must.

Parking your vehicle in a well-lighted place with less gas will help.

Double check your gas gauge whenever you start your car to make sure you have what you think you should have.

I’ve only run out of gas a couple times in my driving life but they were enough that I normally keep my gas tank at least half full, especially in the winter when there are risks of getting stranded because of sudden weather changes.

As long as gas prices keep climbing I won’t be doing that anymore. If a thief takes it he won’t be getting as much as he would like and I won’t be out quite as much money.

I half jokingly told my favorite gas station attendant recently when I filled my car’s tank that when filling it hit $40 I was going to stay home.

My husband filled the very empty 12-gallon tank on my PT last Sunday night. It cost $40.

Contact Mona Ridder at mridder@times-news.com.