[Clayart] a milestone anniversary

[Vince Pitelka]

Wonderful narration Gregg.  You have truly lived a potter's odyssey.  I learned to drive in my mom's 1960 Ford Falcon station-wagon with the 144 six and three-speed on the column.  What a crappy car!
- Vince 

Vince Pitelka
Retired Faculty, Appalachian Center for Craft, Tennessee Tech University
Now residing Chapel Hill, NC 27516
vpitelka at dtccom.net  
sites.tntech.edu/wpitelka/


-----Original Message-----
From: Clayart [mailto:clayart-bounces at lists.clayartworld.com] On Behalf Of Gregg Lindsley
Sent: Wednesday, June 6, 2018 6:45 PM
To: arthur lindsley <aclinds at centurylink.net>
Subject: [Clayart] a milestone anniversary

Today is the 40th anniversary of the day I arrived in California to begin a serious study of pottery with Master potter Dean Strawn.
  Having apprenticed at the Glen Echo Pottery in Glen Echo Maryland briefly, I packed my wheel and a box of ceramics monthly magazines and headed west in my purple ford falcon painted with silver military stars on the sides and brand new tires. Billy Joels "just the way you are and "Baker Street" by gerry rafferty were the number one songs on the radio, and I heard them all the way across country.
On the trip out, everything was fine untill I hit texas. My car suddenly began spewing voluminous amounts of black smoke out of the back, and I limped into Amarillo Tx on a friday night  with the car only able to do 25 miles an hour.
So, with a deep breath and the foresight to put my earring in my pocket, I went into the truck stop  there.  Every one i talked to thought i bought bad gas in east texas.  I was provided with a number for a mechanic who would come out and fix problems. He didn't think he could, and gave me a name to go see in the morning. I went through seven shops that morning, and finally pulled into a shop that  had a dragster in it, and a guy who had nothing to do.
he worked on it for a few hours, and said, ok, ready to go. so i went. 55 mph! cool!  on the interstate again.  well, no. 90 miles later, it was back.  So i asked the car just to get me to Kelseyville, and so off we went. 25 miles per hour, dark smoke out the back, at night. I had to stop every 150 miles to clean the spark plugs and add 90 weight oil, but i was determined to make it.
  So it went for a few days, (the U.S.. is a long country!), untill one morning i hit Bakersfield. Cleaned the plugs, put in new oil. and hit the road.  by some chance, the car liked california. It did 55 miles an hour!
so I drove it til it ran out of gas, just outside of Sacramento. I knew if i stopped, that would be it. slow again.  got someone to get me gas, and tried again. 25and lots of smoke. The radio was filled with panic about something called Prop. 13, and I had idea what that was about.
  the next day, after 10 days of driving at 25 miles an hour, I arrived in Kelseyville, at the home of Gwyn and Jon, my hosts. Jon was studying with Dean. So i had made it!
 the next morning I went out to see about the car, and the engine was frozen. It had gotten me here, and then collapsed in exhaustion. The potters wheel, the magazines and I were here.  Sold the car to Robbie, a
local, for $200 for the new tires.   If you see a purple falcon with silver
stars on the panel behind the passenger doors parked in some field, that was mine.
  And so the adventure of becoming a potter in California had begun, and here I am 40 years later. I can tell you, it has been an adventure!  And continues to be to this day.
Stand by, there might be more exciting episodes coming along in the near future. you never know.

--
Gregg Lindsley
Earth and Fire Pottery
10325 Brookside Drive
Middletown, Ca. 95461
707-490-7168
www.earthandfirepottery.net
At home among the lost and found
 aka Gregg from Mendocino
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