Goodbye to All That

Trading In Hardwood Floors, Hot Tub and Closet Space for a Ready-to-Roll Lifestyle

By Buzz McClain
Special to The Washington Post
Thursday, November 6, 2003; Page 1

Who gives up a $470,000 brick colonial with 2,600-plus square feet to live in an eight-foot wide, 12-foot-high, 40-foot-long recreational vehicle?

Ah, they must be retirees, having reached an age where home is where the heart is and the heart is where the sun is shining.

But no.

Meet the Hawleys -- John and Susan, ages 49 and 47 respectively. And they're not retirees, not even close. But they have left their 1988 three-bedroom, three-bath house of 15 years in the Brilyn Park neighborhood in Falls Church to live in their 15-ton, one-bedroom, one-bath, Type-A, green and white 2002 Monaco Diplomat motor home.

They've gone from living inside the Beltway to living on the Beltway.

The Hawleys and their 18-year-old long-haired feline, BattleCat, have been living in the "Boo Boo Mobile" (after Susan's nickname for John) in their front yard since September, when their house went on the market (now it's under contract, with closing set for later this month).

"We love the house; this has nothing to do with the house," says John, during a tour of the immaculate colonial. "We just wanted to change our lifestyle."

The house they are leaving is what many of us aspire to own: New when they bought it, it still has hardwood floors that shine, a huge kitchen with plentiful cabinetry and all the modern updates in appliances. The basement, finished over time by John and friends, has a large -screen television and a dartboard hidden behind a built-in cabinet. A hot tub is nestled into a double-level deck that overlooks a manicured back yard.

But the events of 9/11 made Susan question the 16-hour days and infrequent vacations that had been their lives. She left her position as vice president of National Park Trust in Washington and began exploring lifestyle options, as well as getting the house ready for sale and occasionally volunteering for the Falls Church Jaycees and Camp Virginia Jaycees. John is a software engineer who has worked for 23 years with the electronic security firm Kastle Systems in Arlington.

"Before this, she was talking about living in a golf course estate," John says. "When she said she wanted to do this instead, I said, 'Great, no more yard work.' "

It's not as though the Hawleys are roughing it. In fact, they're living in motor home nirvana. When the house sale is complete later this month.The $179,000 Boo Boo Mobile, with its 330 horsepower diesel engine that gets 91/2 miles to the gallon -- no worries; the fuel tank holds 100 gallons -- will be moored at Cherry Hill Park in College Park, a gated RV community, when they're not driving it out of town on weekends.

John will commute to Arlington in their Toyota Echo, a tiny car that's easy to tow behind the Monaco. "We traded our Jaguar for an Echo, that's how serious we are about this," Susan says, laughing about what must be an automotive first.

In their house, John says, the closets of all three bedrooms were taken up by Susan's wardrobe. She now has one six-foot closet behind a sliding mirror in the motor home's bedroom, inches from the side of the queen-size bed.

"How many pairs of black shoes do you need?" she says, assessing not just her storage space but also her priorities. "Why do you need so much? We think we always need the biggest and best and most to be happy, but we don't."

Charities like Goodwill and Suited for Change have benefited from the Hawleys' scaling back of their wardrobes. As for furnishings, what doesn't convey with the house will be sold in an estate sale, "from the knives and forks to the master bed," Susan says.

The Hawleys say they'll miss a few things about their old house -- she, the deep steel chef's sink; he, a faster Internet connection than the dial-up modem of the RV -- but not much. (Happily for them, most of the parks they visit have hot tubs for RV visitors; Cherry Hill even has a sauna.) Their collection of 400 compact discs is now on a single 200 megabyte disc they play through the computer. Three hundred DVDs are in three small storage cases that keep the movies alphabetically. There are two TVs (downloading Dish Network satellite programming), a DVD player, a VHS player and a CB radio.

John Hawley, a fitness buff who visits the gym several times a week, keeps a Chuck Norris Total Gym workout bench and a small set of free weights in "the basement," one of several storage bins under the RV. He uses it when they travel, or to supplement his regular workout, unfolding it either outside or inside the RV. He keeps his skis, in-line skates and rugby gear in the clamshell storage case on top of the Echo, which also has racks for their bicycles. The bikes will be parked at Cherry Hill when they're not needed.

When they're not driving, the RV's steering wheel tilts to a horizontal position, is covered and doubles as a cocktail table. In fact, most of the interior appointments serve several purposes, including a table that morphs from a low coffee table to a taller dining table. The couch pulls out into a queen-size bed. The master bed lifts for storage space, where the Hawleys keep linens and pillows. Three leather easy chairs swivel to face the center of the living area and revolve to face the windshield when the RV is on the road.

"The carpeted living area, about 12 by 8 feet and with a portion of one wall that slides out on hydraulics to afford about two feet more of width, is as comfortable as any other rec room. We were always in the same room together in the house anyway," Susan says. "There's not much difference here."

Her penchant for cooking -- she considered being a caterer at one point -- will be challenged by the constraints of the RV's galley, but during our visit she gamely baked cookies in the microwave/convection oven combo.

The stove has three burners, and there's a toaster oven and a George Foreman grill. No dishwasher, but you have to make some sacrifices.

The washer/dryer is just that. "You put it in dirty and they come out clean and dry," says Susan of the single machine.

The full-size shower is a far cry from their former master bath with step-up bathtub, but there's a skylight in the roof. "When it snows, it's so cool to take a shower," Susan says.

Because the Diplomat has a flush toilet, it's considered a house, which affords the Hawleys the same tax deductions of a more traditional home. "But I hate the idea that a house appreciates while this one depreciates," John says.

Naturally, their mailing address will change, most likely to one in South Dakota. For $100 a year, a mail-forwarding business located there will see that the Hawleys get their mail, wherever they are.

John estimates it will cost $50 a day to park in an RV camp, but even at $1,500 a month, it's cheaper than the overhead of their previous house.

The Hawleys are far from the only ones switching to a home on the road. Last year, motor home manufacturers shipped 311,000 RVs to dealers, representing $10 billion wholesale and a 20 percent increase from the year before. There are 7 million RV-owning households in the United States, a record, and the average age of an RV owner is 49.

Still, the number of those living full time in their RVs is "a tiny fraction," says Ken Sommer, spokesman for the Reston-based Recreation Vehicle Industry Association, which represents some 500 members .

"We hear more and more stories like [the Hawleys]," Sommer says. "I think it's a growing trend among a lot of folks who want to focus on personal development and to find meaning in life. For a lot of folks, the RV lifestyle is appealing -- it's a way to pursue a simpler lifestyle. It's the whole appeal of the freedom, flexibility and control that you have, not only with your travel but with your life in general."

Oregon-based Monaco International, which made the Hawleys' Diplomat, is flattered that the couple would live in their RV full time but not surprised.

"Some will live full-time [in their RV] and buy a lot at a resort like you buy a slip in a yacht club, and they may spend a portion of their time in that location and then spend a portion traveling," says Mike Duncan, vice president of corporate communications for Monaco. "Others are on the road a lot more than that and may not stay any one place more than two or three weeks at a time."

Some RV dwellers travel from place to place, working seasonal or temporary jobs before moving on to the next place. This is made possible because of technology and an ancillary industry that caters to those living the RV lifestyle.

"You can get the Internet at campgrounds, mail forwarding, cell phones, satellite television, digital cameras -- that's all contributing to making that lifestyle that much more accessible," says Duncan.

Accessible, yes, but there are still some new rules: "Knickknacks are a no-no," says penguin-figurine collector Susan. "And any gifts in the future will have to be edible."

Falls Church VA - Our home without wheels WAS a 1988 Colonial by builder Ed Peete on a secluded lot in established Brilyn Park with easy access to Metro, Falls Church, McLean and Arlington.

Many recent updates and special features including:

* 3 Bedrooms, 2 full and 2 half baths.
* Hardwood floors throughout main level, with a wood
burning fireplace in the living room.
* All new appliances in the kitchen including a
built in microwave, a new "chef's sink" and
Silestone counter tops.
* Breakfast area with bay window overlooking a double
deck and hot tub.
* New carpet upstairs and in basement recreation room.
* All new windows (vinyl with tilt in for easy
cleaning) and doors.
* New heat pump with zoned controls.
* Electronic air filter.
* New washer and dryer.
* Large shed in back yard with new roof and doors.
* Fenced back yard.