Finding a home on the road

Family builds a custom recreational vehicle from the ground

Chris Albert

Upon entering the Puyallup fairgrounds’ campsites there is a recreational vehicle that stands out from the commercially made RVs.

It looks more like a home that just happens to be on wheels.

Welcome to the home of John and Rebecca Pooley and their nine children.

It’s been a project built from the ground up and one which the family hopes will lead to a life on the road and doing God’s work by helping those in need. The name of the of family band and one John Pooley hopes to add to the outside of the home is “Restless Pilgrims.”

“We believe we’re just passing by,” he said.

There are only so many years a person gets, so they better make them count, John Pooley said. They’ve made it count as a family and they hope to spread the message of servitude to others.

The home itself has seen a lot, even though the family hasn’t set out on it’s trek across the United States. Their last two children were born there. It serves as a school for the children, with Rebecca Pooley as their teacher. John Pooley always has another piece to add to the vehicle and it is always a site of intrigue for curious visitors.

One weekend they had 1,500 visitors, Rebecca Pooley said.

“It gives you a chance to meet people,” John Pooley said. “I’m glad to have met the people we have”

Entering the home is to take a step into a place where every piece of it has a story. The doors are dutch doors, there are stain glass windows. The one in the bathroom is even made from old canning jars. Inside there is a wood stove in the main room that has gotten the family through several winters. When the travelers’ home is parked, the walls extend out to make it more spacious.

“When we do have it set-up it makes it a lot more livable,” Rebecca Pooley said.

The couple have a room at one end and the boys have a bedroom on the other. In the boys’ room there’s a round fish bowl in the wall for one of the family’s pets and a port hole from a sail boat as a window.

The girls’ room extends from the roof to make it a two-story home when stationary. To get to the room there is a wood ladder from an old Tacoma telephone company that John Pooley came across. At one time he thinks it was used to file records on higher shelves of the businesses office.

The home is also a model of efficiency and being environmentally friendly. Not only are many of materials reused items, but they try to minimize what they need.

There are solar panels and a tank-less water heater. When an electrical hook-up isn’t available, they use a diesel generator that John Pooley fuels with a sort of bio-diesel he makes from used vegetable oil.

“It smells nice too and it’s something like 80 percent organic,” he said.

They’ve made it into a self-sufficient home and while they call the Puyallup fairgrounds home for now, they will soon move on to another place in the area. It’s been sort of a warm-up for when they begin their cross-country travels.

Traveling and helping others is what brought the Pooleys together in the first place.

John and Rebecca met on a Mercy Ship. The vessel would travel the world to go to places where people couldn’t get certain medical procedures they needed. It became a home unto itself.

“It was like a friendly city,” John Pooley said.

John Pooley was born and raised in New Zealand and Rebecca was from Eatonville.

Although the two were born an ocean apart, helping people brought them together. They were the 89th couple to be married from that voyage.

“They called it the real love boat,” John Pooley said.

The mission of helping those in need would be not only what brought them together, but also what has built the foundation of their family.

John Pooley was first exposed to the uniqueness of a custom built RV while growing up in New Zealand. When his wife and him moved there they were drawn to the whimsical appeal of the homes on wheels.

“People built their own on the back of trucks,” John Pooley said. “They usually had a lot of character.”

Groups of travelers would go from town to town. They would sell crafts, play music and continue to build the character of their homes.

“They were built out of whatever thy could get their hands-on,” John Pooley said.

It isn’t just about being environmentally sound, said Rebecca Pooley. In New Zealand, frugality is a part of life.

“That’s a Kiwi thing. A New Zealand thing. Recycling,” John Pooley said.

When the first of their children were born, Rebecca Pooley learned about frugality quickly. She was not too fond of using cloth diapers. She would rather just be done with the mess, but she soon found it to be just a way of life that seemed less wasteful.

“I learned a whole new lifestyle over there,” she said.

The lifestyle of the travelers in New Zealand was one of simple means.

“They had a restless sort of spirit,” John Pooley said. “It was a whole sub-culture. They didn’t have much but they enjoyed their life and their families.”

“They had time to enjoy life,” he said. “It was kind of inspiring.”

When the couple moved back to Eatonville in 1995, they decided they wanted a life like the gypsies they met in New Zealand.

But they also wanted to live a life serving those in need.

“We just felt we couldn’t just settle down,” Rebecca Pooley said.

“We believe God has placed a call on our lives to do this,” John Pooley said.

John Pooley started building their home on wheels almost six years ago. He started from the chassis and has worked his way up. There are still a few shelves to be built, he said.

Before they set off on their journey of servitude they have to pay-off the cost of building their home. The whole project has cost about $120,000 and they have about $30,000 more to pay-off. It’s not like it’s the kind of home that qualifies for a loan, Rebecca said, so they’ve worked down credit card debt to get it paid for.

John Pooley uses his skills in cabintery to work for a local cabinet shop and Rebecca holds down the household, even home schooling their nine children.

It’ll be tough and a little frightening to leave a steady job, John Pooley said, but if all goes well the family can hit the road for their cross-the-country travels.

The children help too. They family has a band, Restless Pilgrims, were different members play the fiddle, stand-up bass and guitar.

With the money the family makes they hopes to have the RV paid off in the next couple of years.

Then it’s off to the open road.

Until then they will make East Pierce County the place they call home.

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Restless pilgrims

Go check out more about the Pooley family at www.restlesspilgrims.blogspot.com