Beyond The Barrio: And Into The Trailer Park

More and more Americans are moving out of their homes and into luxury RVs, complete with amenities like wi-fi, jacuzzis and solid gold statues of naked ladies. Oh, not that last one. That’s just in ours:

According to Kampgrounds of America, which operates some 450 campgrounds, 400,000 people are full-time RV dwellers. And many of them are enthusiastic proselytizers for their neo-nomadic lifestyle. “This is the ideal American subculture; it’s the way everyone would like it to be,” says Howard Payne, a real estate lawyer who, along with his wife Linda, traded a five-bedroom house in Louisville, Ky., for a 400-sq.-ft. (37 sq m) motor home in August 2005.

It’s surely the way we’d like to be! These behemoths are probably twice the square footage of our current apartments. And just as expensive:

Some RVs cost as little as $4,000, but it’s the luxury market–where units range from $300,000 to over $1 million–that is booming. Country Coach, one of the nation’s largest manufacturers of premier motor homes, offers models that include hardwood floors, leather couches and guest bathrooms. Last year the company reported a 22% increase in sales of RVs priced at more than $550,000.

Sweet Chavez on a chalupa, that’s a lot of money. But what about volatile gas prices? Will they do much to temper enthusiasm?

Even volatile gas prices do little to temper the enthusiasm of full-timers.

Oh.

Home Sweet Motor Home [Time]