Don't most community colleges accept a Master's for adjunct positions?
Not that love of subject is a bad reason to get a PhD, but if the end goal is teaching a local course every now and then, you could presumably do that after you have the MS and (potentially) while pursuing the PhD, right?
True for community college. Universities typically prefer PhDs when they are hiring adjuncts. Also, to reiterate, for the lit PhD people I knew, the end goal was personal satisfaction - not a lucrative adjunct job :-p Some people just love their subject and share it with others. Teaching is a wonderful opportunity to do that.
Not that love of subject is a bad reason to get a PhD, but if the end goal is teaching a local course every now and then, you could presumably do that after you have the MS and (potentially) while pursuing the PhD, right?