Thanksgiving travel rush kicks off across Central Valley

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- It's as much a tradition as turkey on Thanksgiving -- Wednesday is one of the busiest travel days of the year.

"I knew it would be the busiest, but I still have to make the trip," says Susan Juliusson, who is traveling by air to make it to her Thanksgiving dinner.

From the airport to the highway, millions of Californians are expected to travel for the holiday weekend.

"In normal tradition, we have our maximum enforcement period, which is the maximum amount of CHP officers throughout the state, including here in Fresno, are going to be out on patrol 24 hours a day obviously," explains Mike Salas, a spokesperson with the California Highway Patrol.

Officers will be stuffing the roads, watching out for speeding, impaired driving, people not wearing seatbelts and other traffic hazards.

The California Highway Patrol says around this time of year, speeding is usually the number one issue.

"Slow it down. There's no reason to race to get to that Turkey dinner, it's going to be there for you -- whether it's a little bit warm or cold -- it will be there," Salas says.

To avoid the holiday headache on the road, some people turkey trotted out the door early.

"I left at 5 this morning. I got all prepared to get up and go," said Audrey Adamson.

Adamson is driving to the Sacramento area from Southern California.

The cost of fuel halfway through her drive is something she could really feast her eyes on.

"I filled up my car before heading up here - it was like $5 and 40-something cents, and that was even cheaper for me and this is $4.19, so I was like, 'this is crazy,'" Adamson says.

AAA predicts nearly 55 million Americans will travel to their turkey dinners this year, with the majority of travelers hitting the highway.

"We put as many officers as we can to try and pick those out of the traffic population to make sure everyone else out there is making it to their destination as safe as possible," says Salas.

This maximum enforcement period for CHP starts at 6 pm Wednesday and runs through Sunday night.

Another important note from law enforcement -- make sure to buckle up!

Drivers and all passengers should be wearing seat belts as it's the best way to prevent serious injury in a crash.