Golf fans know the meaning of life on the road

Posted by Marita on 19 septiembre 2011

It takes considerable skill to play professional golf, but a group of Navistar LPGA Classic fans from around the country arrived here a few days ago after displaying ability, agili­ty and stamina of their own.

They are motor home own­ers who negotiated huge ve­hicles along interstates, down two-lane roads and in downtown traffic in big cities such as Los Angeles.

Their ability to operate motor homes almost as big as a Greyhound bus in all kinds of weather — including rain, sleet and snow — prove they can drive with the best with­out a golf club in their hands.

Take Caroline Banks and her husband, Dan Davis, for instance. They pulled into a special parking site adjacent to the Robert Trent Jones Capitol Hill course after a long, tiring trip from upstate New York.

The couple had traveled about 1,500 miles from North Hudson, N.Y., in the Adiron­dack Mountains. They’ll have another 500 miles to go after the tournament ends when they arrive at Texarkana, Texas, where relatives live.

“We love what we do and have been living in motor homes for years,” said Banks. “We’ve owned houses, but there is nothing quite like what we have.”

She and Davis, who have been married for 38 years, met at Texas Instruments and, after they retired, began to hit the road in motor homes. Monaco is a sponsor of the golf tournament.

Their long drive to the Monaco RV rally held each year to coincide with the Navistar LPGA Classic in Prattville was one of many long trips they take through­out the year. They’ll be going to another one in Kansas soon.

When they are not on the road, they spend several months as “Work Campers” at motor home facilities. Banks handles the reserva­tion desk while her husband does maintenance work.

“It feels like freedom out there,” said Davis. “There are no ties, no restrictions. We just hit the open road. We’re ‘homeless’ and we love it.”

According to Banks, their 2005 Monaco Executive mod­el cost “between $400,000 and $500,000″ when they bought it new. They said they got a “good deal” by trading in another Monaco that was in good condition.