Gas prices in the High Country have seemed to have leveled off after a tumultuous month of increases, most capping off around $3.80 a gallon for regular before a number of stations backed off, some dropping as low as the mid to low $3.70’s.  There are gas bargains—if you want to call $3.69 a ‘bargain,’ with that price spotted along US 70 in Hickory, $3.71 in Jefferson and Granite Falls, $3.75 at Tynecastle and $3.72 on Blowing Rock Road in Boone. The U.S. average retail price for regular gasoline rose to $3.78 a gallon on Monday. That's up 3.7 cents from a week ago and up almost 43 cents from 4 weeks ago, based on the weekly price survey by the U.S. Energy Information Administration.