Let the drum beat begin.

It's almost right on schedule, though earlier, but the news cycle seems perfect for the latest round of gas price stories. We've had the election, then the fiscal cliff, then gun debate, and now gas prices.

In between, sure, there have been sensational gasps that dominated for a day or two or even a week: the crazed ex-LAPD officer, the South African double-amputee Olympian, the poop cruise, and the power outage at the Super Bowl.

I'm sure something will happen at the Oscars to take a day or two of our relentless coverage of the world.

But gas prices, rising toward $4-a-gallon very quickly, are something we all pay, more than just when we race to work or school, but also we pay when we shop, whether at bulky grocery stories, downtown merchants or online. Those products need to be moved and transported.

One dedicated follower of the gas prices is The Morning Sun in Mt. Pleasant, Michigan, where a single company sells the gas to the stations. This was as big deal when gas prices jumped quickly from $1-a-gallon to $2-a-gallon. It's a story everyone has an opinion on and it's never a kind opinion. But unlike cigarettes, we can't quit buying gas.

I must confess, fuel economy has never been a high-ranking political, personal or financial concern. But with my new car, a Dodge Journey, I have an option of having the display set to gas mileage, and since I switched to that setting last week, I have seen my fuel economy increase from 15. 4 miles per gallon to 16.6 miles per gallon just by trying to stay as much as possible in the green zone, more coasting, less speeding. I've only gone a few miles on the interstate, so it is almost exclusively the same city driving, mostly to and from work with trips to children's dance or school or else to store in between.

I still try to get where I'm going as efficiently as possible, but it's like a game, trying to get the number to go higher. No need zipping to that red light. Seems like a little technology can go a long way.

Meanwhile, more interviews of people pumping the fuel into their cars with headlines like 'Pain at the Pump' leading the newscasts.

So here we are, almost to Memorial Day and as usual, gas prices are still a story.

But this year, they're doing something else. They're falling.

It seems that locally, they fall faster in some areas. Yesterday, I kept seeing $2.85 or so for regular in Rochester Hills, but when I came into Pontiac to work, I saw $2.61. That was low enough to get my attention.

Funny how that price of oil impacts some stations, or perhaps localities, more than others.