But what about … privacy? "Everyone asks about our sex life," says Debbie, 41. Her standard answer: their kids are young and go to sleep early, and there's a door between the parents' bedroom and the kids' sleeping space. "We just worked it out. It was never an issue for us," Debbie says.

When they began their journey they assumed they'd return to the D.C. area and purchase a house when Jim's tour of duty was complete. But last week they were parked in an RV park in Sacramento, Calif., where Debbie has family, and they're laying plans to vacate the RV and move back to terra firma. But as they've begun shopping for houses again, they're using a new definition of what will make them happy.

They've seen two houses they really liked. One is 2,300 square feet. The other is just under 3,000. Since Debbie and Jim both plan to work at home, they'll need space in their new residence for two home offices. If they didn't, they'd probably buy something even smaller. Even so, their next home will probably cost only half as much as their last one. Their timing could hardly be better: they sold their previous home near the market peak and will be buying at a time when California home prices have fallen. "We were so lucky," Jim says.

But beyond selling high and buying low, the experience has helped them in other ways. Life in the RV "just helped define what a home is and what a home means to you," Jim says. "It isn't necessarily more space or more money."

Debbie makes it clear that their next home, while smaller, will still be nicely appointed. It's not as if she's forsaken the American dream altogether; she has just realized that the endless cycle of "trading up" to nicer homes isn't very fulfilling. "It was this constant 'This will be the answer.' Then you'd come up empty at the end," she says. "It was this searching thing, and I think I'm done with the search."

As the family contemplates its next move, the biggest source of anxiety lies back on the East Coast, inside that storage locker. The Wards aren't really sure what's in those 19 crates of stuff that seemed so necessary just two years ago. But after many months of streamlined living, they're dreading the day they have to deal with it all again.

Daniel McGinn is a national correspondent at NEWSWEEK and the author of "<$ ----="=======================================================================" --------="========" ------="======" ---------="====" ------="====" ----------="====">House Lust: America's Obsession With Our Homes," published by Currency/Doubleday.

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