As July Fourth weekend approached, the White family packed their RV with camping gear and loaded up the coolers to head out on their big summer vacation: a whopping 13 miles from their home near Mount Sterling to the Cataloochee Valley campground.

It was the epitome of staying close to home, a trend that has been catching on this year given the high price of gas. Betty and Wayne White used to take their kids to Myrtle Beach, but this year opted for camping practically in their own backyard.

The RV culture — which is a significant part of the WNC tourist business — has been particularly hard hit by the gas prices. Some retirees who toodle around the country in their RVs have been grounded by the cost of fuel, with some of the largest motor homes sucking down diesel at the rate of 8 miles to the gallon.

“Even people who are very wealthy people with very expensive motor homes can’t justify the kind of travel they did in the past,” said Jann Spalding, a campground host at Great Outdoor RV Resort in Franklin.

While it’s the principle of paying 40 to 50 cents a mile that deters some, those who relied on their RV as a low cost way to vacation simply can’t afford it.

“I think we have reached a tipping point. There was a time when gas to get to some place was cheaper than staying some place. Now it’s not,” Spalding said. “It’s killing them.”

Robbie Burnette of Canton, a regular at the Cataloochee Valley campground, said it has seemed emptier this year.

“I think it’s been slower than usual,” he said. Burnette used to tow his camper to Cades Cove on the Tennessee side of the Smokies, “but the price of fuel has changed that,” he said. Burnette has joined the growing ranks of those staying close to home.

Zina Rumfelt, the campground host at Franklin RV Park and Campground, has also noticed people aren’t traveling as far afield.

“Most of our guests have been what I would call locals, from Northern Georgia or Upstate South Carolina and even parts of this region,” Rumfelt said.

Gas prices didn’t stop the Sutton brothers — Lowell and McKinnie of Newport, Tenn. — from converging on Stone Bridge RV Park in Maggie Valley for their annual July Fourth rendezvous. But they were certainly cognizant of the cost. After years of RVing, they finally calculated the mileage of their diesel trucks with RVs in tow: 14 miles to the gallon.

“We wanted to see how expensive it was going to be,” Lowell said. “Our pocketbook is getting thin.”

It’s forced some RV’ers to throw in the towel on the lifestyle.

“We’ve noticed more campers for sale in our local paper than we have ever seen,” said McKinnie’s wife, Ida.

But those RV’s aren’t selling fast. Those who once planned to enter the RV scene are probably thinking twice. For Clayton and Glenna Hawlsin, who planned to make RVing a regular part of their pending retirement, the rising gas prices have put a crimp in their plans.

“Filling these campers, it takes a lot of fuel,” said Clayton, who was vacationing in Maggie Valley from Kentucky last week. “You’re limited in what you can do. You have to stay in one place longer.”

Olga Smith, 83, who spends her summers at Stone Bridge in Maggie Valley, found it was cheaper to pay the extra fee for over-wintering her RV at the campground rather than towing it back to Florida.

‘Save our Summer’

While the RV circuit adjusts to rising gas prices, the tourism industry at large isn’t seeing a huge impact. Harrah’s Cherokee Casino had its best Memorial Day and July Fourth weekends ever this year.

“They were both record-breakers,” said Charles Pringle, spokesperson for Harrah’s Cherokee.

But, that’s not to say gas prices aren’t taking a toll. While revenue is up slightly over last year, it’s not the growth Harrah’s expected or generally sees, Pringle said.

Tourism operators across the region are bracing for similar results. Rather than the steady growth typically seen from year to year, this season might simply be flat.

“I am not hearing that anyone had a gangbuster May or June,” said Scotty Ellis, the director of the Haywood County Tourism Development Authority.

Numbers from May and June aren’t in yet, so Ellis doesn’t have cold facts, but “anecdotally, I think it has affected tourism,” Ellis said of gas prices.

If you actually do the math, the cost of gas has little net impact on vacation costs. A 1,000 mile round-trip would cost the average driver only $50 more this year than last year. (That’s assuming the driver gets 20 miles to the gallon, paying $4 a gallon today versus $3 a gallon a year ago.)

But Ellis attributes any shift in travel patterns to the shock value rather than the actual math behind it.

“We have never had gas this high and America is shocked right now. People said ‘we aren’t going anywhere,’” Ellis said.

But as people adjust to the notion of $4 gas, the shock will wear off and travel will return.

“We think folks will begin to travel again very shortly,” Ellis said.

Sue Pendley at Maggie Mountaineer Crafts doesn’t think gas prices have kept anyone away — July Fourth was very busy in the Valley, she said. But to make up for the extra $30, $40, or $50 in gas over the course of a trip, people are cutting corners in other areas of their trip budget, like eating sandwiches for lunch instead of going to a restaurant. Pendley’s noticed more people using the picnic tables at the town park beside her shop than in any previous year.

“The trashcans are always very full on Sunday night,” Pendley said.

In Jackson County, Julie Spiro, director of the Jackson Chamber of Commerce and Tourism Authority, is anxiously awaiting tourism numbers from May and June to come in. But in the meantime, Spiro has adjusted the marketing strategy to cater to the “close to home” market. The theory that people are taking trips closer to home was born out by the phone bill for the visitor center’s 1-800 line, which Spiro tracks from month to month.

“We are receiving more calls from in-state, from North Carolina travelers,” Spiro said. “We are shifting our marketing approach to accommodate that by trying to advertise more in-state.”

The Swain County Chamber of Commerce also revamped its marketing strategy in response to gas prices, launching what it called the “Save Our Summer” ad campaign, designed to save the summer tourist season. Ads were placed in newspapers in the “close to home” market like Charlotte, Greensboro and Atlanta.

“We were worried about the numbers. We had some contingency and said ‘Let’s spend it,’” said Karen Wilmot, executive director of the Swain Chamber and the tourism authority.

It either worked or wasn’t necessary, at least judging by May numbers, which show a 5 percent increase in spending on overnight lodging from last year in Swain.

Wilmot also had new ads designed to cater to people’s obsession over gas prices these days. The series pictures whitewater rafting with the words “More excitement per gallon,” a fall nature scene with the words “More nature per gallon,” and a boy tubing down a river coupled with “More fun per gallon.”