[cnn-photo-caption image=http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/images/01/20/laura.lynne.jpg]

Steve Brusk and Emily Robards
CNN National Desk

One of the perks of life in the White House: with rare exceptions, you never sit in a traffic jam.

That’s not the case if you live in Dallas.

Former First Lady Laura Bush got a taste of her new life in the Metroplex Thursday, as her SUV ended up stuck in traffic on a freeway entrance ramp. Her much shorter motorcade sat patiently, with television news helicopters overhead, waiting to merge onto Interstate 35 as she returned to the ranch in Crawford, Texas.

Mrs. Bush visited a friend, and then stopped by the Bushs' future home in the Preston Hollow neighborhood of Dallas. She was seen checking out the large backyard, waving to cameras circling overhead. A smiling Mrs. Bush also waved at bystanders gathered on the street as she departed.