A roof for a roof

WASILLA — Home exchange vacations — where people swap homes, vehicles and often even pets — are becoming more popular around the country and here in the Mat-Su Valley.

With gasoline and airfare prices on the rise, planning a family trip or honeymoon getaway can be costly. Free lodging, including all of the comforts of home, is as good as it gets.

For a retired couple like Darroll and Savanah Hargraves of Wasilla, house-swapping was a no-brainer. Savanah, a retired school teacher, and Darroll, a retired superintendent, had been wanting to visit family and friends in Missouri for quite some time when Darroll’s 86-year old mother had taken ill in Missouri. So Savanah decided to look into traveling as soon as possible.

She began researching house swapping on the Internet last fall and eventually stumbled across Craigslist, where she posted details and photos of the couple’s ranch-style home in northern Wasilla.

“I had also sent the Craigslist posting to all my relatives and friends, hoping they would know a taker,” she said. “My sister got hold of her neighbors, the Dawsons, who went online to see the posting and contacted us.”

Having spent years in Bernie, Mo., Phil and Penny Dawson, also retired, had always wanted to visit Alaska and finally had an affordable chance. The couple began e-mailing the Hargraves about a possible swap.

Darroll, a skeptic at first, was sold when he found out the Dawsons lived 20 minutes away from his mother’s home.

But would the Missouri couple come to Alaska in February?

Traveling to Alaska during the winter is anything but ideal for many visitors, but for Phil and Penny it was perfect.

“We had always loved the Iditarod race and simply couldn’t pass up the chance to get up and witness it,” Penny said.

Communicating solely by computer, the Hargraves began sketching out their vacation plans with the Dawsons. It was agreed the swap would be for 30 days and would include the use of each couple’s vehicles and household amenities.

“We first asked for references,” Savanah said. “Once we got those, we felt comfortable, especially when we started seeing all these remarkable parallels with Phil and Penny.”

As it turned out, Savanah and Penny had enjoyed long careers as small-town school teachers, Darroll and Phil as school superintendents.

“I think we may have been born as twins and separated at birth,” Penny joked. “We had very similar lifestyles, interests and philosophies that paralleled. That really helped us make up our minds.”

Darroll said he had early reservations about turning his home over to complete strangers, but felt comfortable with the Dawsons after getting six other lukewarm responses to the couple’s Craigslist posting.

“The biggest concern was turning our car and house over to complete strangers, which is why we got well acquainted with the Dawsons over the months before we left,” he said. “You have to be comfortable with the exchange first of all, but I recognize quality people in the Dawsons. I think they felt the same way about us.”

On the day of departure for Missouri, Savanah and Darroll left volumes of directions for their guests as a courtesy.

“The remote controls and fireplace are a bit tricky,” Darroll said. “And the car has four-wheel drive, things we generally take for granted. When we got to Missouri, we had found that they had done the exact same thing.”

Once at the Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport, Phil and Penny picked up the Dawson’s truck from the garage and headed to their temporary home in the Valley. Darroll and Savanah found their way to Bernie, Mo., and the couples began their 30-day vacations.

Phil and Penny said they were busy during their time in Alaska.

With directions to the Greater Wasilla Chamber of Commerce and Mat-Su Convention and Visitors Bureau, the couple explored Alaska as much as they could. They visited Talkeetna, took a train ride from Fairbanks, skied in Girdwood, watched the restart of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, attended high school basketball games, celebrated Fur Rondy events in Anchorage and dined at many area restaurants. The Dawsons even had the Hargraves’ immediate family over for dinner each Sunday.

“We kind of adopted their family. It was strange was how it all gelled together,” Penny said. “We saw five moose on the Hargraves’ lawn and the Aurora Borealis one night. It couldn’t have been any more perfect.”

Back in Bernie, Darroll and Savanah said a cold weather snap on their first day was reminiscent of home, but their reception was warm. With a population of roughly 2,000, the couple said the small town locals, who knew of their exchange from day one, treated them like family.

“We were approached out on the town and people would know we were the Alaskan house swapping couple,” Savanah said.

“Darroll spent every day with his mother, we enjoyed good southern eating and held a family get together at their home. It was wonderful.”

After 30 days, both couples flew home to find everything was as it was left.

Mission accomplished.

Both the Dawsons and Hargraves agree the Missouri to Wasilla swap was a rare find, but statistics show swapping in and out of the United States has become a popular global venture. According to Travel + Leisure magazine, home swaps have increased by 40 percent in the past two years with about 80 percent of the current world swapping population being European.

Dozens of online listing services, including Craigslist, cater to thousands of swappers stepping out of their comfort zones and into a low-priced vacation. HomeLink International (www.homelink.org) is the Web’s current leading home exchange organization with more than 13,000 registered home-swappers listed from more than 70 countries. HomeLink provides extensive listings by destination. Each Web site posting is full of details and credentials.

Listings detail whether the swappers are new or experienced and list all the borrowed amenities in the homes. Many have cars included in a swap.

Swappers also provide details on whether or not their homes are child friendly, smoke free and neighborhood friendly, many with photos from multiple angles.

Last week, nine home swappers from Anchorage, Fairbanks and Juneau were on the HomeLink site looking to summer swap everywhere from Italy, France, Belgium, Spain and other parts of the world.

For the cost of an annual fee, usually under $100, several Web sites will list properties alongside others from around the world, but home exchangers themselves are responsible for contacting one another and working out all the details.

Some swappers even provide family assistance, babysitters or even horses.

“I think the key to a successful exchange is on the level of communications,” Darroll said. “We also treated their home like it was ours.”

HomeLink’s Web site notes that there are many ways to ensure a successful swap, starting with picking the destination. For Phil and Penny Dawson, swapping came with all the rewards of a five-star hotel, and more.

“We just had a wonderful time in Alaska,” Penny said. “If you’re going to have a new experience this is the one to have.”