By the time this issue hits the newsstands, I’ll be well on my way back to the Valley. I’ve spent the last week in Dallas visiting family and friends, not to mention celebrating Mother’s Day with my mom, and while I enjoyed the brief sojourn in my old hometown, in many ways I’m looking forward to getting back into the relative peace and quiet of the Western Slope.

Anyone who’s visited the Big D — or any other major Southern metropolitan city — will be familiar with the unbelievable traffic snarls, thick smog and endless sprawl rampant in this ever-growing region. Read the latest census figures, and you’ll find that the fastest growing cities in the United States are almost all located in the so-called Sun Belt, stretching from California to Florida. Baby Boomers seeking warmer climes for their retirement years are fleeing the cold winters and faltering, traditional economies in the north for the year-round sun, mild winters and thriving cities and towns scattered all over the sunny south. In addition, with both domestic and foreign corporations siting their headquarters and manufacturing plants in the increasingly business-friendly office parks in the region, the area has had little trouble attracting the best and brightest workers.

Topping off all those perks is the enviably low cost of living. Texas, Nevada and Florida alone do not levy personal state income taxes. Dallas ranks high on lists of undervalued home markets, with median home prices ranging from $135,000-$160,000, depending on the statistics cited. Plus, a very healthy and extensive inventory of rental properties in a broad range of prices ensures that anyone can find a decent place to live.

Still, there are drawbacks, as I was recently reminded. Traffic seems to have exploded in the last 10 years, particularly as the suburbs themselves eat up more of their surrounding land. Where there used to be nothing but acres of trees and wildflowers, there now stands a complex populated by big-box chain stores. Where my own hometown of Irving ended just south of State Highway 114, now it stretches for miles north of that and includes the vanilla-flavored “planned communities” of Valley Ranch and Las Colinas.

I can visit the same Starbucks every day for months and never see the same people. I can live in the same apartment complex for years and never meet my neighbors. I spend 30 minutes navigating the harrowing center of Dallas’ own version of the Autobahn — with crazier drivers and more labyrinthine twists — just to spend an afternoon with a friend. And I can spend 25 minutes just making my way to the grocery store for a carton of milk. All told I probably spent about $100 in gas just in the last four days. That may not sound like much to those of you who routinely fill up their tanks for that much on a weekly basis, but for someone like me who tools around Grand Junction in a compact car running errands, that represents almost a
month’s worth of fuel.

My mother-in-law lives over an hour away from my own mother’s house, where I
stayed during my visit. My sister-in-law lives even farther away than that. One brother lives 30 minutes away, while the other decided to keep his and his wife’s life sane by sticking close to the city: He lives only 15 minutes from Dallas, 45 minutes if it’s 7:25 in the morning. (In Dallas and other cities, you quickly learn to time your commutes according to the flow of traffic.) When my husband and I still lived in the area, we
could spend hours during the weekend just sitting in the car, idling away our lives just trying to fulfill our personal and familial obligations. Long-timers get used to the commute and plan accordingly. Those who don’t just have to suck it up and suffer.

As always, I’ll miss my family even before I leave for Grand Junction on Wednesday
morning. Even with the new American Airlines direct route to Dallas from GJ, fares remain almost forbiddingly high as the cost of fuel continues to escalate. Still, I’m excited about coming back to the Valley and grabbing my usual hot beverage at Coffee Muggers, where the baristas know my name and keep my personal mug ever-ready for my order.

I can’t wait to settle back into my usual routine, where Saturday errands take no more than a couple of hours and maybe 15-20 minutes of total drive time. There may not be a Sephora or a Whole Foods or a Macy’s in town — yet! — but that just means I spend less money and time doing unnecessary shopping and more time, say, hiking around the Monument or visiting friends. I can read the local paper in about the time it takes for me to eat a bowl of cereal, leaving me with plenty of free time to get ready for the day.

Now, I could still whine about the high cost of living and dearth of affordable housing, not to mention the meanness of the anti-immigration groups in the state. But I’ll save those — and the resulting hate mail that will ensue — for another column.

<i>Marjorie Asturias-Lochlaer is a freelance writer living in Grand Junction. Reach her at marjorie.asturias@gmail.com.</i>