Jul. 29--As North Carolina gas prices have dropped from record highs set two weeks ago, Embarq employee Andre Alston thought it was incredible to be thankful for gas still selling at a high price.

"It's amazing that we say $3.65 is a blessing," Alston said Monday afternoon, as he paid for $10.01 gas at Hadi's on Western Boulevard.

The cheapest unleaded gas in Tarboro on Monday was $3.63 per gallon. Raceway on Western and the Murphy Express at River Oaks Shopping Center, had the lowest price as did the two Wilco Hess gas stations on Main Street.

Gas still isn't cheap, but the state's average fuel cost shows that these Tarboro gas stations are providing relief for local consumers.

Carol Gifford, a AAA Carolinas spokeswoman, was surprised at Tarboro's pocket of cheaper fuel.

"Oh my gosh, that's almost worth driving to get gas there," Gifford said from her Charlotte office when she found out about the $3.63 gas. The statewide average for a gallon of unleaded gas was $3.92 on Monday, she said.

"($3.63 is) a big difference. (It is) certainly the lowest price I've heard," Gifford added.

And the price drop comes less than two weeks after AAA Carolinas reported the highest average ever for a gallon of gasoline in North Carolina; $4.04 per gallon on July 17.

"Yes, it is hard to imagine that these prices sound great," Gifford said.

Jerry Cross of Pinetops spent $84 at Raceway filling up his 1996 Ford F-150 truck, which was loaded with spare car parts and radiators for resell. Cross, 55, said Monday that his fuel bill runs $700 a week, because he drives through five states for parts to resell in New York state.

He said he makes good money reselling the parts, and that the cost of fuel hits other people harder than it does him.

But for $700 a week, he said he "could be buying a lot more stuff to sell." And because of the price of gas, Cross said he could could only afford one employee, not two like he used to have.

Tarboro's Regina Thigpen stopped at Hadi's for $12 worth of gas for her 2003 Dodge Intrepid around 2:30 p.m. Monday. Though the price of gas is a "lot better" than it was two weeks ago, Thigpen, 30, said she still can not take trips like she used to.

She said going to Greenville is often too expensive for her and her 10-year-old daughter Keondra Dessaure, much less a vacation to Virginia Beach like they used to go on.

Spending $100 a week on gas has made her "just stay at home" most of the time, she said.

Ontarius Lewis, a Keihin Carolina System Technology worker from Rocky Mount, bought $40 gas for his 2000 Mitsubishi Montero at Murphy Express. He said his sport utility vehicle does "alright" for gas mileage, keeping his weekly gas costs around $70.

Lewis, 40, said that high gas prices have cut into his free time significantly.

"(I) used to ride around all the time.