Almost 49 million people are expected to travel 50 miles or more between Wednesday and Sunday, the most since 2007, because of lower gas prices and an improving economy, according to AAA.
It will be the first time many have gathered with family and friends since the rancorous election between Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton, and many say they hope they can leave politics behind—even for just a day.
“We'll avoid it,” said 47-year-old boilermaker Kevin Baumann, who stopped in central Montana Tuesday on his way home to Spokane, Washington, after working on a coal plant in Iowa. “We’ve got bigger things to talk about during the holidays.”
James Arnold, 18, a freshman at Eastern University in Philadelphia, expects that the election will be a big topic of conversation during Thanksgiving dinner at his family’s home in Silver Spring, Maryland.
