Two groups of children spent Friday morning touring the USS Batfish, and climbing on tanks and empty gun turrets.

Eight were Joyce Warren’s grandchildren from Sallisaw. Warren said she likes to take her grandchildren to area Civil War battlefields and other historic sites, though “we’re trying to do it close to home.”

The other group of children were enjoying one of the weekly field trips put on by Youth Central Child Care’s summer program.

Those trips also tend to be close by, said child care manager Regenna Craig.

Fuel prices topping $4 per gallon are affecting the way families and youth programs do their field trips. But they find ways to go, anyway.

“It’s very important for our kids to learn all of our history,” Warren said. “We go on our trips, then look up on the computer and study more about what we learned.”

She said the family has been to such Civil War battlefields as Prairie Grove and Pea Ridge in Arkansas and Honey Springs near Checotah. They also visited the Fort Gibson Stockade. She laughed when asked if a visit to Gettysburg, Pa., has been ruled out.

“When we have the kids, we have to bring two vans, and gas probably costs $30 for each van on each trip,” she said. “We’ll probably spent $100 today for gas, admission, and lunch.”

“History is my favorite subject,” said Zion student Jeffrey Horn, one of Warren’s grandchildren.

At Youth Central, Craig said the program still takes children on weekly field trips, just not as many to Tulsa.

“We have gone out of town to Tulsa or Broken Arrow, but we try to stay closer,” she said. “I know about area sites, and we resourced our staff so our children can experience things like being on a farm. We’ve gone to the free movie screenings at the theater.”

Craig showed a cost estimate prepared by the program’s recently-retired transportation director. It showed that an eight-mile round trip to Honor Heights Park would cost about $4 for fuel, while a trip to the Tulsa Zoo would cost $50 per bus. The estimate was based on a fuel cost of $4 per gallon and mileage of eight miles per gallon.

Craig said she’s watching gas prices to see how that will affect field trips when the center’s regular school year program begins in August.

She said the program has speculated about having to raise prices.

“CDHS just had a rate increase,” she said. “Hopefully there might be some ways to offset the prices. We definitely want to do what’s best for the children.”