Gregg Laskoski

Summer’s gas prices may have topped out, experts say, but Doug Millsaps of Red Bank said he’s doubtful that the cost of fuel will drop in the middle of vacation season.

“I’ll have to see it to believe it,” Mr. Millsaps said as he filled up the tank of his mother’s Buick at the On the Run station on Hixson Pike. “I think it’s going to keep going up.”

Monday was the first day in nearly two months that gas prices didn’t climb, according to Gregg Laskoski, a gasoline analyst for AAA Motor Club South.

“Even if it’s a blip, it’s the first blip we’ve seen in 50 days,” he said. “We’ve seen 50 straight days of gasoline prices increasing.”

Mark Gamble of Rossville, who stopped Monday at the Mega Star station on Chickamauga Avenue to put gas in his pickup truck, said he noticed a slight drop in price between Sunday and Monday. He said it had been more than $2.50 per gallon for regular gasoline, but had come back down to $2.49.

Mr. Gamble said he had gotten used to prices below $2, where they stood until around May.

“It was getting way expensive,” he said. “I get fed up.”

AAA’s Fuel Gauge Report, an inventory of average gas prices around the country, reflected the slight drop in prices.

Between Sunday and Monday, the national average price of regular dipped about three-tenths of a penny, from $2.693 to an even $2.69. Georgia’s average dropped a little less, about two-tenths of one cent, and Tennessee’s fell about four-tenths of a penny.

Mr. Laskoski said Monday’s decrease may be “the beginning of a plateau” for gas prices, but noted that it’s hard to say just what prices will do over the next couple months. Weather or international political events could drive the price back up, he said.

But if Sunday marked the peak of summer gas prices, it would be a little earlier than usual, Mr. Laskoski said. Generally, prices hit their highest levels near the end of June or beginning of July, he said.

Mr. Gamble said he was curious just what causes such fluctuations in price, especially when they come at jumps of five or even 10 cents each.

Mr. Laskoski said the big factor right now is the price of crude oil, which he said runs parallel with the price of gas.

“We’ve seen gasoline prices and crude oil prices going up steadily,” he said. “This last week was the first time in 10 weeks that we’ve seen that the price of crude is less than the previous week.”

A year ago, when gas was creeping up to a peak of more than $4 a gallon for regular, crude oil was nearly twice the price per barrel as it is now, Mr. Laskoski said. On Monday, crude closed at about $67 a barrel, according to the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Even with the Fourth of July coming up, prices may stay steady, Mr. Laskoski argued.

“Consumer demand is down now, and travel projections, I think, are going to be down as well,” he said.

Whatever the factors, Mr. Millsaps said he’s just happy he’s not paying those peak prices consumers had to shell out last summer.

“I just hope it stays this way,” he said.