Oct. 18--Although she didn't know it at the time, July 19, 2008, was a red letter day for convenience store manager Linda Degele. Some angry drivers were taking out their frustration on her as a gallon of regular gasoline topped $4.20, a record high for Montana.

"It was terrible. People were still fueling, but they weren't buying anything extra, and for a convenience store that can be the death of you," she said.

A 10-year veteran of convenience stores, Degele now manages the Laurel Cono-Mart Super Store at 411 First Ave. S. Prices fell off those record highs to a low of $1.46 on Jan. 5, and by last spring business was improving.

"I knew it was picking up because people started buying more items," she said.

Prices for regular have risen from the lows seen 10 months ago.

"Montana was at $2.60 Wednesday, down 6 cents from a week ago and down 80 cents from a year ago," said AAA Mountain West spokeswoman Denice Harris.

Hunting season usually boosts demand for diesel, she said, which also has come down in price.

"Gas prices have been pretty boring lately, but it's nice to see a leveling off of the craziness and prices becoming a little more predictable," she said.

But drivers' memories are as short-lived as a fresh daisy in a snowstorm.

"They were hoping it would come down lower, but they are a lot happier than when gas was $4," Degele said.

Some predictability and lower prices for diesel are a boon to truckers and other large consumers of fuel.

G. Derald Eastlick, who started GD Eastlick Inc. in 1954, buys fuel to run his fleet of 17 trucks to the West Coast and Southwest and return to Billings with fresh produce for wholesale grocers. When diesel topped $5 a gallon last year, surcharges saved the day.

"It was tough. We got very thankful that the companies we haul for were willing to have fuel surcharges or we wouldn't even be in business," he said.

Trucking companies primarily hauling building products were hurt badly when the home-building boom crashed, he said, but the food business is steadier work.

Eastlick said he remembers diesel costing 25 cents a gallon through the 1960s. Now with diesel at about $2.70 a gallon, or about half the cost of last summer's peak, times are better. But the fuel surcharges will stay, he said, because his industry got accustomed to paying $1.10 for diesel.

Dropping demand\n

The AAA said that the current record number of jobless Americans who no longer drive to work is hurting demand.

And according to the U.S.