EVANSDALE -- Homeless. That's a good one.

Duane Hanson laughs at the thought. So does his wife, Anne, though the couple have never really attached that word to their situation.

But the description sort of fits.

"Our last home was in Cedar Falls," Duane says.

They moved out three years ago. No foundation. No permanent address. No shingles overhead. No garage … Duane lets loose another belly laugh, the kind those in on a secret enjoy.

No property taxes. No homeowners insurance. No utility bills … Others gathered around the picnic table, including Edna and Del Orr, smile and nod approval.

The question for these folks and many others during the summer -- or in many cases yearlong -- is not whether a person can survive without a house. The question is, why choose a lifestyle anchored on a foundation, particularly when the weather warms and fireflies dot summer evenings?

"We don't really miss our house. Not anymore," Edna says.

About 15 years have passed with hardly a glance backwards. The Orrs are on their third RV. The latest model is a 37-footer with one slide-out compartment.

"We're from Waterloo. Used to be. Now we're from wherever," Edna says.

They park their motor home from April through October in the Deerwood Park's Fogdall Lakeshore addition.

"We don't move. All summer," she says.

The remainder of the year belongs to Yuma, Ariz.

Snowbirds

Deerwood has 38 spaces with full hookups -- water, sewer and electric -- and 94 with power alone. The fee for a deluxe lot rents for $225 per month, $215 with a senior discount. A tent site costs $160 per month.

About one-third of the spots in Evansdale's municipal campground are occupied full-time during the season by RVs, campers and tents.

Some people staying for extended periods are snowbirds, like the Orrs and Hansons. They migrate south just ahead of cold weather and north just behind it.

"The regulars come back every year. It's like you have a little community," Marilyn Benhoff says

She and her husband, Joe, contract with the city to serve as hosts. They split firewood, tend sewer lines, collect fees and enforce policies. Though they own a home in the city, during the summer the Benhoffs live in the park in an RV.

Semi-permanent guests fall into other categories, Marilyn says. Some are serious campers who just don't like moving once established. They may not spend every night in the campground, but their RV or travel trailer does.

Occasionally people in need settle in. Some have limited housing options because of income or because of another stress in their lives, like an ongoing divorce. Others are transients, people in the area for an extended-but-temporary amount of time, like construction workers. At least once, a couple lived in their RV while contractors built the family's new home.

Those who willingly accept the challenge of long-term camping contend the lifestyle is cheaper, more fun and in many respects easier than traditional homeownership.

"I've camped since I was a baby," Angie Bickel says.

Since May, she has shared a 22-foot camper with her husband, Jay; four kids; and a yellow Labrador named Kelly. Her parents, Bob and Ila Cronin, are parked two sites over.

At the Bickels' summer home, a 15-inch television sits on top of a tiny refrigerator. Both are on a picnic table pulled alongside the camper and under its awning. A grill, coolers, bicycles and lawn chairs are arranged nearby. The family survives with about seven TV channels instead of the multitude offered on cable.

Overall, the smaller space works.

"After awhile, you just pretty much consider it home," says Adam Bickel, Jay's 17-year-old son.

He looks forward to the annual retreat and actually commuted to Hudson High School for three weeks toward the end of the 2005-06 school year.

"You just don't have as many electronic things as you might like," Adam says.

Being away from classmates and neighbors can be a drag, he adds.

"But meeting new friends is cool, too."

Angie also appreciates a more communal atmosphere. Campers tend to look out for one another, by helping secure loose awnings, for instance, and frequently share meals.

"It's more group oriented, family oriented, than at home," she says. "It's like the old days."

Extended camping, Angie says, creates a larger neighborly feeling than when the family actually lives in their neighborhood.

Across the park, Edna Orr addresses life lived elbow-to-elbow with her husband of 48 years.

"You know how compatible you are when you move into something like this," Edna says.

Freewheeling

Pat and James Wilson are spending a few days at Black Hawk Park in Cedar Falls. Their daughter, JoAnn Phillips, lives in Waterloo.

Campground rules prohibit staying more than 14 days in the park. So, the couple from Prospect, Pa., will pull up stakes soon. They won't go home, however, because their 38-foot, 9-inch RV is the only residence the Wilsons own.

The couple initially wintered six months a year in Florida or Texas.

"Pretty soon we were up to seven months," James says.

About a year ago they sold their house. James and Pat worried about burglaries while away. And off-road months in their house had grown into weeks remodeling, landscaping and performing routine maintenance -- in short -- drudgery on a property that had become a burden.

"We spent all summer working and we never got to do anything," Pat says.

"It just got to be more of a hassle to come home," James adds.

So they stopped. Money once owed for property taxes -- about $2,500 -- this year will go toward a 12-month lease on a lot in Florida. Money for a land-line telephone, utilities and homeowner's insurance will stay in the couple's pocket.

The Wilsons' former home included about 1,800 square feet. Their RV features four slideouts and roughly 450 square feet of space. It cost $190,000.

Broadband and Wi-Fi Internet, cellular telephones and mail forwarding services enable the transition from a grounded to freewheeling lifestyle.

"It's really become easier than when we first started out," Pat says.

Manufacturers within the last decade have helped, too, according to the Recreational Vehicle Industry Association in Reston, Va.

"Anything you can have in a home, you can pretty much have in an RV," says Rachel Parsons, the organization's public relations manager.

Modern motor homes feature the mundane, like microwave ovens and air-conditioning, to the exotic, like marble shower stalls and granite countertops, to satellite television dishes and heated floors.

Rigs can also support up to five slideouts

" … Which just makes the inside of the RV bigger. Some are larger than a New York City studio apartment," Parons says.

All of which, adds up to an apparent increase in popularity. The association's research shows 1 in 12 car owners also drive an RV, Parsons says. That represents a 15 percent increase in four years.

Recent spikes in fuel prices don't seem to have much impact on the industry, Parson says.

"Fuel prices would need to triple to make an RV vacation more expensive than other types of travel," she adds.

Not that insiders aren't paying attention.

"Of course, as far as fuel prices go, anyone with an interest in the travel industry is going to have concerns," Parson says. "But we really haven't seen a lot of people stopping. It's more a matter of adjusting."

RV owners -- who have the option of going five miles or 500 -- are either staying put or staying closer to home.

The Wilsons' diesel motor home gets 10 miles per gallon. Not a great figure, but James says better than the six or seven the couple's old gas-powered ride managed. He did warn his daughter, though, that if prices got too ridiculous, they would stay in Florida.

"I told her, 'If we don't show up, you know where we'll be.'"

Which isn't always the case, JoAnn Phillips says. Her parents like to travel. When they leave Black Hawk Park, James and Pat will drive to South Dakota, Michigan and Wisconsin.

"I always have to recheck because I never know where they're going," Phillips says.

When summer ends, the compass will point south.

Toward fall, Angie Bickel admits she is usually the most reluctant in her clan to pull the plug on the camping year. As much as Adam enjoys camping, though, he says over time he begins to miss some comforts.

"My bed."

The debate on whether to go home is usually brief, Adam adds.

"Normally, there's not too many complaints."

Contact Dennis Magee at (319) 291-1451 or dennis.magee@wcfcourier.com.

Learn more about it:

For information about camping at Deerwood Park and other attractions in Evansdale, visit the Web site at evansdale.govoffice.com. Black Hawk County Conservation Board has a site at www.co.black-hawk.ia.us/depts/conservation.html. The Recreational Vehicle Industry Association has a site at www.rvia.org.