When Lloyd Shaffer began driving 75 years ago, $1 bought six gallons of gas. On Thursday, Shaffer and his son, Ron, paid $3.89 per gallon at Sheetz in Cranberry Township.

“Gas costs are robbing people blind,” Shaffer said as he helped his son fill several gas cans.

Ron Shaffer also lamented the price of diesel fuel, which was less expensive than gas when he bought his pickup truck in 2004.

“Now, it’s 20 cents more,” he said.

As regular gas approaches the $4 a gallon price in Butler County, motorists notice how much they spend to drive.

The state average for gas prices is $3.75, but prices in the Butler area average about $3.89. Last year, average prices were about $3.55 per gallon.

The average price for gas hit $4 in the region for the first time in the summer of 2008.

The younger Shaffer recalled working at a gas station in the 1970s in Cranberry when he was a teenager. Gas was 34 cents per gallon, and because of the gas rationing rules at that time, he could only dispense three gallons in each car.

He said today’s gas prices are spiraling out of control, and the most hard up people are also the most affected.

“I feel bad for the people making minimum wage,” Shaffer said.

Don Strano of Mars pumped $60 worth of 89-octane gas into his car on Thursday, which gave him a little more than a half tank.

Strano said he doesn’t really pay attention to the price per gallon, but he feels the cost when the total comes in. He recalled paying 20 or 25 cents per gallon when he learned to drive.

“I could go on a date, put $1 in gas in the car, get five gallons of gas and still have plenty left for the date,” Strano said.

He said he gets about 25 miles per gallon in his car, which is not a lot with his 70 mile commute to and from his job at Slippery Rock University.

“That’s $200 to $300 a month for gas,” Strano said. “As high as it’s going, I need to get 40 miles per gallon.”

Strano is considering buying a hybrid.

Ed Belles of Zelienople said it costs $95 to fill his pickup truck with gas when it is empty.

“I try not to let it get that low,” Belles said.

On Thursday, he paid $3.77 per gallon at the Valero station on Route 19 in Zelienople.

“Gas prices are way too high, and it’s unnecessary,” Belles said.

He blames the high fuel prices on foreign oil.

“We’ve got all the gas and oil we need (in the United States),” he said.

Belles, who is retired with a part-time job, said he doesn’t take long trips because of gas prices.

“I realize the days of 35-cent gas prices are long gone,” Belles said, “but there’s no reason to be paying what we’re paying.”

Pat McKee of Fenelton just accepted the price of gas when filling up his mother-in-law’s Honda Odyssey at the Sunoco service station on West Jefferson Street in Butler.

Prices there started at $3.89 per gallon Saturday.

“You got to have gas,” he said. “It’s all about supply and demand. You have to pay for it.”

McKee said his family recently took their SUV down to the Outer Banks in North Carolina.

“It gets about 25 miles per gallon,” he said. “Gas was a lot cheaper down there. In North Carolina it was about $3.45. I was really shocked because it’s been around $3.79 up here the past couple months.”

The Butler native said he remembers when gas cost 49 cents.

“I was born in (1971) so I remember the gas crisis,” he said. “I remember always seeing (President) Carter on the news.”

Denny Nulph of Evans City also gassed up on Thursday at the Valero. He said his four-door pickup takes $120 in gas when it is empty.

Nulph recalled a gas station on Armco Hill in Butler Township during his childhood where his father would get gas for 18 cents per gallon.

“I never thought I would see (gas prices) at these prices, ever,” Nulph said.

He is frustrated with gas prices that inch toward $4 a gallon.

“It’s ridiculous,” he said. “I don’t know why they can keep raising prices.”

Shayne Boyd of Butler Township was driving his GMC Sierra pickup truck up to Parker this past weekend to ride his Polaris Sportsman 500 ATV.

He was filling his truck up at the Sheetz on Freeport Road in Butler Township.

“I don’t really look at the prices,” Boyd said.

He said the price of gas isn’t too much of a burden for his off road pastime.

“They get pretty good gas mileage,” he said of the quad. “A can of gas will get you far.”

Boyd said he drives to Cranberry for work every day. He said he remembers gas being as low as $2.50 in his lifetime, but he is too young for experiences with prices being below $1.

“I’ve never experienced it cheap,” he joked.

Sam Hoyt of Butler took a different approach to battling rising gas prices.

“I ride my bike everywhere,” she said, sitting atop her green Schwinn at the corner of West Wayne and South Main streets.

Hoyt said she owns a car and will drive when needed, but prefers the option of cycling to run errands.

“It saves money,” she said. “And it’s a good way to enjoy the beautiful weather.”

Eagle staff writer Will DeShong contributed to this report.