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Jack Kerouac is probably turning in his grave.

Kerouac, who died in 1969, wrote "On the Road," a novel in which the protagonist -- a thinly veiled stand-in for the author -- searches for the soul of America from the front seat of an old Hudson coupe during several cross-country road trips. Since its publication in 1957, the hugely influential book has encouraged generations of young readers to make similar journeys of self-discovery. However, like drive-in movies, full-service gas stations and hamburger joints where car hops, bathed in neon light, serve fast food on trays that attach to car windows, the long summer road trip may already be a thing of the past.

Journeys of self-discovery cost more these days. As the price of gas surpasses $4 a gallon, it's clear that a long summer road trip would be beyond the means of all but the most dedicated of today's young wanderers.

I didn't get around to reading Kerouac's book until 1969, while I was serving a four-year hitch in the military. Nonetheless, the spirit of wanderlust that permeated the book was awfully appealing to someone in my situation. As soon as I was discharged, I couldn't wait to follow the author's lead.

Road trips were a lot cheaper in those days, too, when gas was going for a mere 24 cents a gallon. In the years after I left the military and returned to school at Virginia Tech, I took every opportunity I could to see the country -- usually, like Kerouac, from the front seat of a car, van or pickup truck.

Crisscrossing the country in this manner seems terribly extravagant these days. Nonetheless, my appreciation for this country and the natural wonders it contains would be a lot different if I hadn't done so when I had the chance.

I doubt I would have visited as many national parks if gas prices were anywhere close to what they are now. I might not have seen the Grand Canyon, hiked as many trails in the Rockies or camped in the Sierras as often as I have. I certainly wouldn't have the same deep feelings for all the wild places I've been to if it hadn't been for cheap gas and summer road trips.

Likewise, I might not have been to Denver or Tucson, Ariz., or San Francisco or all the places in between. I wouldn't have seen the bison that walked through our campground in Wyoming or the moose that gingerly stepped across the trail in front of me in Alaska. I might have missed the extraordinary clarity of the night sky above an isolated rest stop I stopped at once in west Texas. Even now I remember how it felt to stand there in that perfect stillness in the middle of the night, staring up at more stars than I thought anyone could see from anywhere on Earth. Such moments are priceless to me now.

Clearly, it's the end of a way of life many of us took for granted. I doubt gas will ever again be so cheap that most of us won't have to think twice about whether we can afford that next long road trip.

Some of us look forward to such trips and seeing more of the country each summer. Now, for a while at least, it looks as though we'll have to limit most of our explorations to destinations that are a little closer to home.

On the other hand, we'd all be a lot better off if we thought more about what, where and why we drive. It may be that the rising price of gas is what it takes to get most of us to think about more energy-efficient alternatives of travel. And that, in the long term, is a good thing. Still, accepting this fact doesn't make the process any less painful.

If you want your kicks this summer, you may need to find them someplace other than on Route 66 -- which mostly doesn't exist anymore anyway.

These are not good times for road novels and long summer road trips. In the end, though, the pain at the pump may be beneficial if it inspires more of us to look for ways to conserve fuel when we travel.

Steve Kark teaches writing and coordinates the internship program for the English Department at Virginia Tech.