Bush has always said he and first lady Laura Bush would go back home to Texas. But exactly where remained a bit of a mystery.

Would he go directly to his beloved ranch in Crawford, Texas, the place dubbed the 'Western White House' where he welcomed numerous world leaders and spent countless hours clearing brush? Or would it be to the newly purchased home in an affluent North Dallas neighborhood?

White House press secretary Dana Perino announced on Wednesday that when Mr Bush leaves Washington and the White House behind in less than two weeks he will depart from Andrews Air Force Base and head to his boyhood hometown of Midland, Texas, for a welcome home event in Centennial Plaza, the town square.

Eight years ago, in January 2001, Midland was the setting for the send-off event as then-President-elect Bush headed for the White House.

After the Jan 20 festivities in Midland, Perino said, Bush will fly to Waco on his way to spend his first night as a private citizen, once again, at the Crawford ranch.

Laura Bush, who met with reporters on Wednesday to show off a new gold-rimmed set of state china, said she and the president would fly back to the ranch with 'a number of friends' who will spend the night with them.

'So that will be fun,' she said.

The Bushes will move into their Dallas house a few days after that - or whenever the painters have finished, the first lady said.

Mr Bush's last visit to the West Texas town he once called home came in October, when he attended a Republican fundraiser.

Mr Bush spent several of his boyhood years in Midland in the 1950s because his father, former President George H.W. Bush, had come to the area shortly after World War II in search of crude oil. Laura Bush grew up in Midland and returned frequently as first lady because her mother, Jenna Welch, still lives there. -- AP