Lee...
Alternately if you didn't want to go to Boston you could always go visit Dale's teacher Dr. Painter. I'm sure he or some of the senior students there would be able to show you what walking in circles is good for. They are in Texas like you.
Is centerline theory and angling off it a part of your martial arts practice? This is a serious question..
If you practice angling off the main vector of an opponent's movement then this clip by Kumar Frantzis might be edifying..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Na5-yjetsIM
The stuff he is talking about is pretty much axiomatic for all bagua people (I don't know of any bagua people who would disagree with what he is saying).
Most things that the circle walk trains COULD be trained by practicing linear footwork. I spent alot of time with my first bagua teacher stepping up and down the floor. Jump step, full step. Pivot. Jump. Turn-around. Repeat ad nauseum.
But "burning in" the circular patterns of walking makes the feet reflexively circular in their motion.
Rootedness, balance, power in the step, alignment between the hips and the head while in motion.. all that stuff is trained in the circle walk. But if we didn't do it in circular patterns we wouldn't have all these things while moving in circular trajectories.
That's what I meant by "circle walking alot makes you better at circle walking".