DAYTON (AP) – Bill Morse drove from his home in Buxton to top off his truck’s 20-gallon tank at D&H Convenience Store because the gasoline was 22 cents a gallon cheaper than in his hometown.

He was one of a steady stream of motorists buying gas at the store on Friday because of the low price, $2.97 a gallon. By Monday, the price had fallen to $2.87 a gallon.

With gasoline prices high, consumers these days are being selective about where they fill their tanks. Prices can vary by 20 or 30 cents a gallon between stations that are just a mile or two from each other.

Drivers say they often find the best prices through local knowledge, word-of-mouth or even on the Internet.

At D&H Convenience Store, manager Tom Levecque said he can keep his gasoline prices down because of high sales volume and low overhead. After managing the store for 22 years, Levecque still finds it surprising how dedicated some customers are to paying pennies less for their fuel.

“Personally, I don’t quite get it. I don’t think I’d wait in line to save a few cents,” he said.

After Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast, gasoline prices soared overnight in Maine and across the nation. The average price of regular unleaded in Maine peaked at $3.21 a gallon on Sept. 5, but had fallen to about $3.09 a gallon on Monday, according to AAA, which tracks fuel prices nationwide.

Even with the price decline, gasoline still cost 70 cents a gallon more on Monday than it did a month earlier, and $1.20 more than a year ago.

With the price increase, there has been a greater range in the price differences between stations.

An Internet site, www.mainegasprices.com, gives consumers an overview of gas prices around the state.

Run by two men in a suburb of Minneapolis, the Web site has a different version for every state and major metropolitan areas around the country. The site started out of frustration with the discrepancy in gas prices, according to one of its founders, Jason Toews.

“A co-worker always used to come into work and bug me about how gas was 25 cents cheaper in his suburb than where I was living,” said Toews. “How are you supposed to know gas is cheaper in White Bear than Minnetonka?”

On Monday, the highest Maine gas price listed on the site was $3.39 a gallon at stations in Norridegewock and Sanford.

The lowest price was $2.80 a gallon – or 59 cents a gallon cheaper than the most expensive gas – at a station in Waldo.

The second-cheapest gas on the site was at the Hinckley General Store on Route 201 in Fairfield, where gas was $2.83 a gallon.

Store clerk Ann Stiefken said a line is not uncommon at the store’s two pumps, but she thinks it’s more from word-of-mouth than the Internet.

“We’re constantly busy when we have gas,” she said. “People come in and say they’ve heard other people talk about our gas prices.”