Especially when compared to a year earlier, gas prices recently couldn't have been better for holiday travelers in Colorado ending 2014. But the $2.25-2.35 range seen in the state's southwestern corner still couldn't hold a candle to figures found on the Front Range – including the $1.88 [$1.85 with a King Soopers SooperCard or City Market Value Card] found by this writer/photographer while traveling Dec. 30, 2014, at a Loaf-N-Jug in Fountain, south of Colorado Springs.

Just a couple hours after initially paying $1.99 for regular unleaded at a Diamond Shamrock in Lyons (similar prices were seen later in Alamosa, but no nearer in relation to Ignacio) to the north.