Chariots of Fortune: Traveling First-Class in a Coach : Recreational vehicles: A motor home can be equipped with all the comforts of a house, plus one--the freedom of mobility.

If it were just a little wider and didn’t have a steering wheel in the living room, Bill Streff’s motor home would look no different from a well-appointed Newport Beach condo.

His 37-foot Safari has hardwood floors and ivory carpeting, two TVs, cream-colored leather recliners, a double-door refrigerator, cedar-lined closets, elegant Deco-style lighting fixtures and other creature comforts one might not expect in a motor home.

“We’re roughing it,” says Streff, a Mission Viejo resident who regularly visits Newport Dunes in Newport Beach and other RV parks in his $180,000 motor home--a perk he enjoys as a representative of a Safari motor home dealership in Irvine.

Whether they buy their motor homes equipped with every kind of frill or add customized decorator features and outlandish gizmos, RV owners are turning their rigs into rolling castles.

They’re finding all kinds of ways to pack up the comforts of home and take them on the road.

RVs have changed dramatically since the ‘70s, when their interiors were a fright of fake wood paneling and linoleum floors. Those who haven’t been inside a late-model or renovated motor home might be surprised at just how lush they’ve become.

Some coaches, such as the million-dollar Prevosts that rock stars and other traveling celebrities favor, come with marble flooring, recessed lighting, wet bars, glass shower enclosures, full-size refrigerators, vanities, mirrored walls, gold-plated bath fixtures and other elegant appointments.

A few RV owners and manufacturers have gone a tad overboard with the glitz, adding so much lighting, leather upholstery and mirrored surfaces that the motor coaches resemble discos. Virtually anything found in the home can now be installed in a coach.

Mary and Jerry Hanson of Hemet, who vacationed recently at Newport Dunes, have a personal computer in their 33-foot motor home.

“I can check the weather in any major city on it,” says Jerry Hanson. They also have two VCRs and two televisions, a master bedroom with a queen-size bed and a living area with velour-covered easy chairs and a couch.

“This shows how spoiled you can get,” Hanson says.

Dorothy Biederstadt considers herself spoiled as well. Her 40-foot coach, painted a head-turning shade of pink, comes with a satellite dish, indoor and outdoor TVs, a pair of vibrating black leather lounge chairs, a small “wine cellar,” a double-door refrigerator, a dishwasher, a china cabinet stocked with fine crystal, and a potato-chip maker. The only thing that’s undersized in her rig is Tiger, her toy poodle.

“I use all of my good china and crystal,” says Biederstadt, who lives in her motor home and often stays at Newport Dunes.

Many of the newer motor homes are more geared to couples in search of long-term R&R; than to a bunch of campers roughing it for two weeks. Some have master bedrooms with spacious wardrobes where couples can retire at night to their queen-size bed and 20-inch TV.

“Years ago the idea was to sleep as many as possible in a motor home. Now [RV owners] are not as interested in bringing the family,” says Amanda Griffin, lead decorator specialist at Camping World of Anaheim. “They want to go off by themselves.”

Dinette tables and chairs used to take up an entire section of a motor home to accommodate a huge brood; now most rigs have small but traditional-style kitchen tables that fold out to seat four. Instead of built-in cushions, many have scaled-down recliners and free-standing sofas more appropriate to home living.

“The newer motor homes are like small condos--they have shower doors etched in glass, skylights and washer-dryer combinations,” Griffin says.

Older RVs are getting make-overs so they, too, have all kinds of decorator features, Griffin says. She helps RV owners renovate their rigs’ interiors at Camping World’s 2-year-old Decorators Center.

“People will refurbish everything--carpeting, furniture and upholstery,” she says. “Anything you do to your house, they do.”

Where once they covered their furniture in heavy-duty woven fabrics and nylon, owners can now choose the same plush upholstery used in the home.

“If they want to make it elegant, they can use mauve, gray or teal velour. They’re no longer bound to browns and blues,” Griffin says.

Many have ripped out unsightly curtains and put in modern window treatments, including wood shutters, day-night shades that go from sheer to full coverage and mini-blinds, some with fancy cornice boxes that can double as storage spaces.

RVs have become just like home because, to a growing number of people, they are home. Some people retire and live out of their motor homes. Others still work, commuting to the office from RV parks or working out of their rigs via computer.

Jan and Carolyn Anderson have been “full-timers” at Newport Dunes for three years. When they’re not on the road, they live out of their 35-foot Bluebird.

“People say, ‘Oh, how can you live like that?’ But we don’t understand how they could live in a large, entombed place,” Carolyn Anderson says. “That’s a lifestyle we have no interest in.”

Jan owns a TV production company and works as a Newport Beach police officer, and Carolyn is a teacher. They’re used to living in tight spaces; they lived on a boat for 22 years before moving into the motor home.

“Living in a tube” allows them to be self-contained and mobile, Jan says.

“If we don’t like our neighbors, we can move,” he says. “We like the freedom. If we want to go, we just unhook, and we’re gone.”