After eight weeks of near-record $$$/gallon for gasoline, AAA Texas reports that Lone Star pump prices finally went down a bit last week. The statewide average as of Aug. 17 dropped 6 cents from the previous week to $2.873 per gallon.

Austin-area gas went down 2.7 cents to $2.864. The cheapest gas in the state was in Corpus Christi, which dropped 10.4 cents last week to $2.749.

In far West Texas, however, news wasn't so good. El Paso set a new all-time record last week and reported the highest average -- $2.936 a gallon -- on the list of 11 major Texas cities (full list here). That rivals the national average per-gallon price of $2.977.

As for the U.S., the price of living in Hawaii includes paying, at least last week, $3.368 a gallon. The islanders are not alone, though. Half of the country, including Washington, D.C., still pays more than $3 a gallon.

Southerners get the best gas deals right now. The cheapest gas last week was in South Carolina, at $2.822 per gallon. Kentucky and Mississippi  came in next lowest, each averaging $2.885 a gallon. You can read the full story on national gas prices here.

You gotta feel for El Pasoans, dealing with the state's highest gasoline on top of -- and probably because of -- the record rainfall that prompted Dubya to declare the county a major disaster area last week. At least now, residents will get some federal funds and special tax treatment to help them rebuild.

On the road again: I'm hoping that West Texas dries out and gas prices stay down, because, as I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, my cousin Kathy and I are going to take a road trip down memory lane.

We've finally settled on when we'll depart Austin and when we'll come back. As for the in-between, well, I'm working on a draft itinerary right now. (I promise, Kath, I'll get it to you tonight!)

I'm also working on what I'm going to do with the blog while we hit the road for about six days. I have the laptop, of course, that I bought when my PC hard drive crashed. But where we're heading is a bit rural, with a couple of the towns without the standard chain motels, so I'm not sure all our lodgings will have Internet connections.

Map note: That chunk of highway pictured above is not necessarily representative of where we're heading. Patience. Details in due time.

The hubby jokes that I'm a blog addict, freaking out at the possibility of not getting a daily posting fix. I'm glad someone is getting a chuckle out of my minor dismay!

If push comes to shove, I suppose I can always take the 800-number AOL route just to get online. But I'm hoping that the place where I spent my formative years isn't totally out of e-touch. I know toward the end of our travels we'll be in a college town, so I should be fine then.

And I've still got a couple of weeks until we go. It was just on my mind -- until the gas price e-mail arrived, I was working on our travel schedule -- so I thought this would be an appropriate time to share.

I'm sure I'll come up with some blogging solution by then. Who knows, the hubby may end up taking dictation via phone and then posting for me. I'm sure he'd love that!