For the last few weeks, we've all been waiting in anticipation for it to happen and it finally did.

Even though the Montana state average was just over 4 dollars a gallon for gas, here in Bozeman we were holding strong at 3.99 a gallon...not any longer.  I put a few gallons in the truck yesterday and I paid 4.03 a gallon, so we've broken the 4 dollars a gallon barrier in Bozeman.

What about the rest of Montana?

Well, the state average as of yesterday morning according to AAA is 4.087 a gallon, which is still considerably lower than the national average of 4.246 a gallon. Here in the west, Montana is certainly cheaper than several other states, although Colorado and both North and South Dakota are still under 4 dollars a gallon.

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Ronira
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The highest-priced gas? California with an average of 5.91 a gallon.

The high cost of fuel is certainly taking a toll on Montanans. I had the chance to talk with an OTR trucker who told me that in a 48 hour period, he spent 2200 dollars fueling his big rig. 2200 bucks? Unbelievable.

Fuel pump in fuel tank
Steve Hix/Somos Images/Corbis
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Of course, he then has to pass the increase along to the business that he is delivering to and they in return pass the increase on to you and me. It's certainly easy to get frustrated when we take a look at our fuel and grocery receipts and see that we're paying much more for the same products, however, what can we do?  People need to eat and they need to get to and from work.

One of the questions that I have as we head towards the summer is will the high price of fuel affect your summer plans?

My wife and I are planning a trip to attend a graduation and visit friends in Grand Forks North Dakota at the beginning of June and I'm not real excited about paying over 4 dollars a gallon for gas, plus a hotel, plus boarding for two dogs.  Especially when it doesn't have to be this way.

gas pipe line
Sergiy Serdyuk
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Is it time to re-open the pipeline project?  Is it time to start doing more drilling?

I for one say YES to both of those and I know a whole lot of other folks feel the same way. Times are tough for a whole lot of average folks right now across Montana.  With housing costing a small fortune, people need a break wherever they can get it.

What we don't need is some silly political game being played with our pocketbooks...but that's just my 2 cents...and if you add another 4 dollars to that, you can buy a gallon of gas here in Bozeman.

LOOK: See how much gasoline cost the year you started driving

To find out more about how has the price of gas changed throughout the years, Stacker ran the numbers on the cost of a gallon of gasoline for each of the last 84 years. Using data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (released in April 2020), we analyzed the average price for a gallon of unleaded regular gasoline from 1976 to 2020 along with the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for unleaded regular gasoline from 1937 to 1976, including the absolute and inflation-adjusted prices for each year.

Read on to explore the cost of gas over time and rediscover just how much a gallon was when you first started driving.

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