They aren’t camping; it’s home

 Not all the time. Of the 100 spaces for RVs at the park, owners Cathy Kappel-Simms and Scott Simms said 40 are set aside for long-term residents. Of those spaces, 30 are occupied, mostly by construction workers like Danny Parker, whose home is near Atlanta.

For such workers, living in an RV is better than staying in a hotel or renting a place when away from home for months on a construction project like the one they’re working now — the Facebook Data Center under construction in Sarpy County.

After sharing a house with other workers on a construction site in Virginia where rent was $1,200 a month for 17 months, Parker — a heavy equipment operator — didn’t like spending his money that way.

Neither did the others, all of whom are employed by Terry Nix Equipment LLC, an Atlanta firm specializing in earth-moving.

The thought of staying in a hotel also didn’t appeal.

“That’s $400 a week and that’s in small towns,” said Parker, who has been with Terry Nix for 10 years.

Then they hit on a solution: buy recreational vehicles and haul them from site to site. Now, each worker lives comfortably in his own RV at Pine Grove.

The RVs are about 33 feet long by 8 feet wide, and new ones cost between $15,000 and $50,000. Some have slide-out room extensions to provide more living space, and some include washers and dryers.

“Everything in the RV is your own,” said James Scott, whose permanent home is also near Atlanta, where he bought his 33-foot tow-behind RV. “You just hook it up and pull it to the next spot.”

Parker was sitting at a table one evening after work with other contractors enjoying snacks and beer at Pine Grove’s office. The office also serves as a convenience store, game room and snack bar.

It’s where the men gather at the end of almost every workday, which lasts from 5:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., six days a week. Sometimes they share snacks and meals made by the RV park owners, or watch sports on the big-screen TV.

“As long as they aren’t playing Georgia, I’ll root for Nebraska,” said Parker, who was wearing a University of Georgia hat.

Nearby, Robbie Fischer had on a red Georgia sweatshirt.

“Nebraska has a good fan base, win or lose. I’ll give them that,” said Scott, who has been with Terry Nix since 1999.

Scott said it’s been a learning curve for the weather.

“Cathy’s been very helpful with giving us advice,’’ he said. “It doesn’t get 15-below in Georgia.”

Bill Paavola is also at the table. A construction manager from North Carolina, he said he finally bought some lined pants to help ward off the Nebraska cold at the job site.

To help keep the RVs warm, they are skirted around their open undersides with vinyl panels. They have furnaces and some have a fireplace.

“Everyone thinks it’s cold in a camper, but I stay warm,” Scott said.

He can also cook in his own rig, something you can’t do in a hotel.

“It’s home on the road,’’ Scott said. “It’s your own bathroom, your own shower, your own everything.”

Paavola nodded and smiled.

“You get to suffer your own mistakes, too,” he said. “If you forget to turn on the water heater when you go to bed, you wake up to a cold shower.”

He likes to cook in his full kitchen, everything from steak, seafood, pasta and chicken.

“I have lobster tails in my freezer,” he said.

The men often prepare lunches to take to the job site. It’s cheaper than eating out.

About once a month, the men fly south to visit their real homes for a few days. Occasionally, the families have come to Nebraska. Scott’s wife and two daughters were here for July 4. One couple celebrated their anniversary here.

“You can bring your family, your dogs and your animals and everything else up here, too,” Scott said.

The men and their families also use phones, Facetime and social media to stay in touch.

To familiarize themselves with Nebraska, Scott and Parker arrived in May, a month or so before their jobs began. They visited Nebraska City, Lincoln, several state parks and attractions off Exit 426 near Ashland, including the Strategic Air Command & Aerospace Museum and the Lee G. Simmons Conservation Park & Wildlife Safari.

Scott likes the state parks so much that he bought an annual pass. Parker enjoys going to the state wildlife management areas to hunt and fish.

“I’ve met a lot of good people out there,” he said.

Simms understands the contractors’ lifestyle. Over the years, he has pulled his own RV from Wyoming to Kentucky while working on pipeline projects.

Kappel-Simms’ parents started the RV park in 1982, and the couple took it over in 2006.

“As owners, we couldn’t have a better bunch of people,” she said of the contractors there now. “We’ve had all kinds of construction people through here. We’ve had roofers, asphalters, all the trades. When the storms come in, we get insurance adjusters.”

Kappel-Simms said the park always has had long-term residents, but not as many as now.

Two RVs hold families whose homes were destroyed by tornadoes in southern Bellevue last June. Other RVs are occupied by a single mother and her child, a couple with a child and retired people who live at the park year-round.

The RVs are connected to electrical, water and plumbing services. Propane for furnaces and water heaters is delivered to tanks outside each RV.

“Even when you add on insurance, which is about $20 a month, you’re still coming in lower than a house payment,” Parker said.

“Plus,” Scott said, “you get to take the trailer when the job ends.”