Friday, January 16, 2009

We Are ... Here!

Many of you are wondering where in the Phoenix area we actually live. If you've ever been to Phoenix, you problaby know that central Phoenix is surrounded by many, many other cities and towns - its the 5th largest metro area in the U.S.

We live in the Town of Buckeye, which is far west of Phoenix (about 40 miles or so). Here's a map (click to enlarge). Most of populated Buckeye is below I-10. ... Los Luceros de Arizona live above I-10:


According to Wikipedia: The town has a total area of 145.8 square miles (377.5 km²), all of it land. The town's very large planning area extends, at its widest points 48 miles from north to south and 24 miles east to west. Due to the amount of land that the town has annexed or plans to annex (up to 600 square miles), the population may increase to over that of the current population of Phoenix itself. Buckeye is projected to expand to over 380,000 residents by 2030, with some projections giving the city some two million inhabitants by 2050, which would make it the largest suburb in the Phoenix Metropolitan Area and possibly the United States.

Buckeye is a farming community and I've heard the "city folk" refer to Buckeye as "living in the country." It's true, there are lots of farms out here ... and lots of open desert space ... and lots of housing developments dotted across the landscape. I guess compared to living in Phoenix proper, we are indeed living out in the country. But ... we have cleaner air than the communities that are closer to Phoenix. Nearly every day, we can see a nasty brown cloud in the distance that is a grand, disgusting display of all the pollution that settles in the Valley. Who wants to breathe in THAT air? Not us!