Spotsylvania County resident Shelba Brown had just filled up her car with Pure at a convenience store on U.S 1 in Fredericksburg.
She didn't look pleased.
The gas cost $1.77 a gallon. "I think it's ridiculous is what I think," Brown said.
Gas prices are on the rise both nationally and regionally, and industry experts are speculating that average prices in Virginia could escalate to $2 per gallon for regular by the summer.
Brown believes that gas prices in Spotsylvania are higher than Fredericksburg's, so she opts to make the drive into Fredericksburg for fill-ups.
But if prices keep going up, she won't be able to make the commute.
"I have to stay home," Brown said. "I'm on disability, and I can't afford this."
Others are also feeling the pain of the pump prices.
Gordon Bishop, manager at the Pure Food Mart, has noticed a slump in his business just in the last week.
Rising gas prices are to blame.
"It puts a hurt on the business," Bishop said. "People won't go out if it's too expensive."
He said his customers keep an eye on the prices.
"People come in and ask when the price is going to go up again," Bishop said.
Just minutes away at the Princess Anne Store, owner Manzoor Zaidi, charges 8 cents more per gallon for regular.
At $1.85 per gallon, Zaidi has felt the backlash of the rising prices.
"Customers are complaining," Zaidi said. "A guy came in from Lorton and said he paid $2.36 per gallon."
But Zaidi remains positive: "I'm surviving," he said.
Robert Stowe is also surviving, and he has been employed for 40 years as a driver for Hildrup Taxi Service in Fredericksburg.
When he first started, Stowe said he could go anywhere in town and gas up for 40 cents a gallon.
The prices now, are the highest he's seen.
Because of the increase, Stowe, now a manager, might be forced to raise his rates.
"It's just terrible," he said. "I would hate to raise them again, but we don't have a choice."
The costs have caused the business to reduce from 33 to 29 the number of cabs in service, Stowe said.
According to Windy VanCuren, spokeswoman for AAA Mid-Atlantic, the national average per gallon of self-serve regular was $2.02, up 24 cents from Jan. 1, up 9 cents in the past week and up 2 cents overnight.
The average regular gas price in Virginia, yesterday, was $1.92, up 24 cents since Jan. 1, up 10 cents in the past week, and up 1 cent overnight.
The national average is 3 cents away from its record high, and Virginia is 4 cents away--both records were established last May.
Still, Virginia is the fourth cheapest state in the nation for gas, said Martha Mitchell, also of Mid-Atlantic AAA.
But consumers in places such as Hawaii, California, Nevada, Washington and New York, are not so lucky.
Yesterday, GasPriceWatch.com said the highest price per gallon in the nation is $3.01 in Bridgeport, Calif., and the lowest price is $1.72 in Rock Springs, Wyo.
Mitchell said the rising gas prices are largely due to an increase both in demand and the price of crude oil--the largest component of gasoline.
Michael O'Connor, president and chief executive officer of the Virginia Petroleum, Convenience and Grocery Association, said in the past 18 months the cost of crude oil has doubled: a year ago the cost was $26 per barrel, and now its $58.
Gas prices also soar in the spring and summer seasons.
In spring, gasoline refineries are prepped to make a more environmentally friendly blend of gas for the summertime. This blend costs more.
And when the summer rolls around, prices increase because demand increases because of vacations.
"Last year on May 26 , the nationwide average reached its record of $2.05 per gallon and in all likelihood we will probably meet or break that this summer," Mitchell said.
But some recall less expensive times.
O'Connor remembers enjoying 99 cents per gallon at the pumps just three years ago in Virginia.
But he's not complaining.
"To blame your local gasoline retailer would be like blaming your pharmacist for your $40 bottle of pills costing $40."
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