SHERMAN, Texas (KTEN) -- The price for a gallon of gasoline is climbing toward the $3 mark. 

With COVID-19 vaccinations on the rise, motorists are getting back out on the road, and as demand increases, so does the price.

The AAA said the statewide average in Texas was $2.12 per gallon last March; today it's $2.44. Oklahoma's average has gone up from $2.15 to $2.52

"The freeze we had last week that wiped out a couple of the refineries and really put a supply constriction on fuels," said Brad Douglass, owner of Douglass Distributing.

The freeze is one of several reasons for the price hike. Texomans are split on which of them is most prominent. 

"President Biden closing the Keystone pipeline," said Caddo, Oklahoma, resident Kim Adair.  "I think that had a lot to do with it, because it really wasn't going up too high until that happened."

"Supply and demand... it always is," said Karla Fulfer from Kingston, Oklahoma.

And watch out. Douglass believes this is just the beginning. 

"It's a combination of the higher crude oil prices, the reduced COVID cases, the stimulus checks," he said.

Douglass added that high fuel prices also hurt his business: Moving gasoline to local filling stations. 

"We drive about 3.5 million miles a year, so we burn a lot of fuel," he said. 

As you can imagine, Texomans aren't happy about the price hike, either. 

"I live way out in the country, and I baby-sit my grandbabies," Adair said.  "We are in Oklahoma and it's like $2.40-something right now."

Others are trying to keep the current conditions in perspective. 

"They were complaining before because the price of oil was so low," Fulfer said. "Now they are complaining because the price of gas has gone up. We can't have both."

AAA says the last time Texas saw the statewide average at $2.44 was in August of 2019.