Almost to Black Mountain

January 7, 2009

Greg has been making appointments with people in the Asheville area. Today we were all set to visit Toni De Lisa, a potter, and her husband Gregory Dunn, a tribal mask maker, outside Black Mountain. But first we stopped in to see Mondy Carter who owns and operates the Soulshine Candle Company near town. We knew Mondy back in Milwaukee where he was an actor and did a lot of comedy shows with our pal Anthony Wood. Mondy seems content in his new life here and we hope to interview him and his wife Karen Stobbe before we leave the area.

Then we were off, guided only by our new GPS system, to Toni & Gregory's place way, way, way up in the mountains. I was pretty surprised at how steep the grade was, but felt okay because the roads were in good repair. But then we got off the main road onto a single lane, rough road with dozens of hairpin turns on even steeper grades. Usually I'm the one who's nervous in these situations, but Greg was showing some signs of distress as well. Our 4-cylinder RAV4 was straining with every  curve. We were probably only a quarter mile from their house when we were faced with an extremely narrow road going up what looked like an impossible hill. With no room for error, we parked and tried to figure out what to do. Neither of us had cell phone service. We were stopped near a house with lots of barking dogs defending their territory, which made it even more difficult to think straight. Greg realized that he didn't have Toni's phone number. Then the wind kicked up and it started to snow. That was the tipping point that made us decide to retreat. Although we really wanted to get up there, I don't regret turning back (not an easy feat on that tiny road with horrifying drops on either side.) When we got back to Black Mountain, Greg was able to look up Toni's number in the library. She kindly offered to come down and get us, but we were pretty fried by then. 

When we got back to Asheville, Toni had made arrangements to have us back up (she'd pick us up with her truck). She was going to have us and another artist that we could interview over for a big Italian feast. I can't wait to see the view from her house and I'm relieved that she'll be driving. It's so interesting to visit other people's lives with this project and see what drives them to make huge changes. In this case, Toni & Gregory left a hectic life in Miami behind for life on the edge of the grid. They grow lots of their own food and life a much more solitary life now. My biggest question is: How did a nice Italian-American gal like you end up on the top of this mountain throwing pots?