Austin's BareNaked Family kids grow up

AUSTIN (KXAN) - Austin, Kesley and Sunny White are all high school graduates, despite the fact that they never set foot in a high school classroom. Instead, their classroom was a 37-foot recreational vehicle and their lesson plan was an in-person visit to the United States’ most important monuments, canyons, mountains, oceans and byways.

It was in 2001 that the trio’s parents quit their work-a-day jobs, sold everything they owned, but deemed unessential to their family’s lives, bought the RV and hit the road.

Now, Austin, 19, Kesley, 17, and Sunny, 16, have passed their standardized exit exams with top-notch scores and opened the Corona Cafe , their own coffee shop.

All three are convinced that is the way to grow up.

“I always tell people I would not trade it for anything else,” said Austin White. “I would not, there's not a lifestyle in the world that I would trade up for. That's why I'm here today and that's why I know the people I know and that's why I'm doing the things I'm doing because of the choices my parents made back in 2001 and I would never trade it for anything.”

Sure there have been some hard times, chief among them the death of their friend, Clifford Antone , in 2006. The legendary owner of Austin’s premier blues club had a policy of admitting families, children and all, to his venue.

“The key (Clifford Antone) phrase that sticks out in my head is,” the kids’ mother, Jenn White said at the time, “'Sure, honey, we let the mamas and the babies in to see the blues together.”

“He just let them enjoy the music in its rawest form and realest form,” added father Greg White, “and that's, you know, something's gone away for the families.”

Speaking through her tears, little Kesley, displayed her broken heart: “He was just a really sweet guy and I appreciate that,” she said.

This, however, is not the sort of family to stay down. They call themselves the “BareNaked” family as a testament to their philosophy of life, a philosophy based on stripping away everything in their lives that is superfluous in order to live and love together, full-time.

“When you're living in an RV with five people, two dogs and a cat, you kind of have to learn to work through your own problems,” said Sunny.

The idea was to learn in unusual ways and to grow physically, emotionally, and spiritually as a team.

So in between sojourns around the country, the family began to work with bands to stage their own rock-n-roll concerts for families.

“These musicians are writing about pain,” Jenn White told KXAN-TV in 2006, shortly after Antone’s death. “They're writing about hurt; they're writing about anger. And it's usually based around whatever family experience they've had. We're here to change that.

"We love live music; we love being with our kids. We've not hired a babysitter in like 10 years and we’re really proud of that.”

Kesley, 11 at the time, was also proud.

“I think it's really fun and cool,” she said, “and it just inspires me when I have kids, I can treat them the same way my mom and dad do.”

In time, the grind of the road spelled change for the BareNaked Family. They sold the RV and settled back home in Austin, looking for new adventures. In the early summer of last year, they stumbled upon a “Craig’slist” ad offering a coffee shop for sale in North Central Austin.

“It all just kind of came together really fast,” said Austin, “and, you know, we jumped on an opportunity and it's turned out to be something really amazing.

“It doesn't feel like work; it's something that I get excited to come into every morning, not knowing what's going to happen, you know, not knowing who I'm going to meet, who's going to walk in the door next.

“With every drink I make, you know, there's always stories being shared and a lot of talking happens and so you really get to know your people; you really get to know your customers. And that's what's amazing that we've created here."

After pitching in for a few months, the parents slid into the background and Austin and Kesley took over. Sunny puts in some time at the shop, as well, but as her father puts it: “She’s still busy being a teenager.”

Her two older siblings, though, rise between 5 a.m. and 6 a.m., Monday through Friday, to open the doors by 7 a.m. They close up at 3 p.m.

“We're very different from regular teenagers, just the way we grew up,” Kesley said. “You know, we'll be 30 years old and we'll still be like, everybody will be like, 'What is going on,' like, 'What is this, what are you doing?' So, it's always been like that, like, as long as I can remember. You know, it's just different and that attracts people so intensely.

“So it's really cool to be able to share, like, such great stories with people and hear their background and what they want to do and help inspire people. So this is just one of those opportunities. It is a really cool and magical experience.”

BareNaked life.