Tom Murphy in front of his “villa” in the North Texas Airstream Community in Hillsboro, Texas.

HILLSBORO, Texas — When your home has wheels, you can go anywhere. And when your home is an Airstream, you’re part of a special club, your smooth silver box of a home attracting attention and affection wherever you go.

Just off the interstate in Hillsboro, Texas — about an hour south of Fort Worth on Route 35 — there’s a whole neighborhood full of Airstream trailers. They’re lined up on tidy lots: big ones, little ones, vintage trailers and tricked-out newer models. And the people who own them have formed a community there. They may be on the road several months of each year, but the North Texas Airstream Community is their home base: It gives them a mailing address, a small house to stay in, a group of neighbors that they know they will see again. Their homes may have wheels, but they have a piece of solid ground to return to when they wish.

The community was started in 1991. A group of Airstream owners found a 50-acre spot in Hill County, put a fence around it and divided it into lots. They combined their skills — a retired plumber, a retired electrician, a man who knew how to use a backhoe — and dug trenches for water and sewer lines. And soon they started attracting people from all over the country who wanted to stay for a night, for a week or for years.

“It’s a group of people who enjoy trailering, Airstreaming,” says Joe Gardner, who has owned Airstreams since ’88 and lives here with his wife, Gypsy.” And we’re a group that’s very close-knit.”

There are just a few requirements for moving in: residents must be at least 45, have an Airstream and belong to the Wally Byam Caravan Club International, the overarching organization named for the Airstream’s inventor. In fact, the club’s president lives in Hillsboro, as do several former international presidents.

There are about 150 properties, most of them on 40-by-80-foot lots. Those tiny lots are the perfect size for an Airstream trailer and a carport to cover it — and for a compact little home known as a villa. Much like Airstream trailers, the villas are designed with no wasted space, full of little compartments and hideaway storage.

The community, says Jim Haddaway, the community president, “was originally for those who had Airstreams to have a lot,” a place to park their trailers. “Then they got the idea to build a house, a place to sleep,” he says. “Then, why not build one big enough to have washers, dryers, bedrooms?”

The steel-framed villas look a bit like storage sheds from the outside — and for some, that’s pretty much what they are. But many of the residents live in their villas and have turned them into two-story homes with 1,200 or 1,500 square feet with multiple bedrooms, full-size baths and a kitchen big enough for real cooking.

Airstream’s iconic silver trailers have dotted the country’s highways for more than 70 years. Its smart design and familiar rounded profile have made it a rolling aluminum symbol of American freedom and wanderlust. And though lots of people own trailers made by other companies, the Airstream has a certain mystique. Its unchanging appearance has allowed it to absorb our collective history, its unique shape and clean lines embodying a simpler time.

And it even feels like a simpler time in the North Texas Airstream Community. People come and go all the time, but residents can’t recall any crime since the place opened 18 years ago. There are no street lights, signs or traffic lights; when the sun sets, it gets truly dark. There’s always a game of cards going on in the clubhouse. And every Tuesday evening, just about everybody in the neighborhood — well, everyone who isn’t traveling — gathers for a potluck dinner.

Who lives here? Former teachers, retired military personnel, people who worked for oil companies. Most are retired. Many are longtime Texans. All are wanderers, full of stories about the places they’ve been and the places they want to go. While most of the folks are retired, everyone has business cards so they can quickly share contact information with new friends they meet along the way.

Their lives are on the road. But this community is the place they call home.