Since you're (presumably) driving off the highway into an unknown town, my guess is that the first station or two will have more expensive gas, because these st

Since you're (presumably) driving off the highway into an unknown town, my guess is that the first station or two will have more expensive gas, because these stations know there are people coming the same way from the highway who need gas asap (and don't mind paying a premium price). This is confirmed by the example in your post.