The CRT, Nic and B & T (Creede, Colorado)

We have just spent five wonderful days in Creede, Colorado with good friends, Bill and Teri Smith.

We met Bill and Teri some 20 years ago in Idyllwild, California. We both had homes there at the time and attended church together there.

Bill was the General Counsel for a major Land Development company in Orange County and Don was VP of a large Residential and Development company. They immediately found commonality in their career fields. Don was also very impressed with Bill’s organizational skills, something that is high on Don’s list of outstanding personal attributes.

Teri is someone that you just automatically love. She and I have a lot of common interests in arts and crafts. The two of them are also some of the most gracious hosts we have ever met. And of course we all have our faith in common.

Bill and Teri live several miles outside of town directly on the Rio Grande River. Their house sits on a cliff about 40-50 feet above the water.

This is the downstream view from the deck…

…and the upstream view from the deck.

They have a lovely, bear-friendly log home. There are more bears in this house then you can imagine! (Notice the one peeking over the balcony.)

Bill arranged for us to park the RV on the next door neighbor’s property that has RV hook-ups. As you can see, we are only about six feet from the edge of the cliff, which gave us great river views. Not a bad “RV Park.”

The tiny little town of Creede, Colorado is in southwestern Colorado. It is an old historic silver mining town near the start of the Rio Grande River.

There are a number of cute little shops and galleries that Teri and I spent some time investigating.

We arrived on Friday which happened to be my birthday.

It turned out to be great timing. Bill and Teri are very involved with the CRT (Creede Repertory Theater) and they were having a dinner and opening show that night. They had made arrangements for us to go along.

I could go on and on about that night, but will just try to condense it into a few lines.

First, the fantastic dinner was held in the community center, which is in a mine at the edge of town.  Yes, a MINE! A silver mine to be exact. 

Once you are inside, it is no longer has a mine-like appearance, but forget about your cell phone working there. It was beautifully decorated and catered. There was three different types of food you could choose from, Mexican, Italian or Traditional. They were all outstanding.

Then we went to the Theater. The play was, “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying.”  I can’t stop raving about how great the play was. 




Don’t think it was a matter of local volunteers trying their hand at acting.  These are professional, paid actors, many from outside the area. The CRT draws audiences from many miles around. This is the CRT’s 46fth season of performances.

Bill and Teri, of course know many of these actors and periodically during the play, we would hear whispers from them like, "Those two are married to each other," or "That one and that one are dating!" That just added to the fun.

The cast also travels with their plays into Denver in September and October as well as performing at various schools in rural Colorado, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Utah and Texas.

They performing six different plays in Creede from May to September every year. Every year 20,000 people come to Creede, (population 450) to see these performances and with the addition of the schools and Denver performances, the number raised to 50,000 last year. If you are ever in Creede, be sure you check out their schedule. You will be glad you did.

Bill and Teri are great tour guides and we did a lot of sight-seeing in the area with them.

They took us to Freeman’s General Store a few miles outside of town for their famous hamburgers. Freeman’s is a very old, popular and unique place. (Full of “local color.”) We sat on the porch to eat our burgers along with neighbors,  a local sheriff, and the drivers of several big-rig cattle transport trucks. It seems everybody stops at Freeman’s.

Inside the store they sell a little bit of everything including fishing licenses and equipment. There is a sign, “WORMS” hanging above one of the tables inside.

After lunch we stopped at a view point that has been featured in Sunset Magazine.

Not far away is the beautiful Clear Creek Falls.

On Sunday Don performed Nicodemus at Bill and Teri’s church in Creede. He has added a communion service in the middle of the presentation. It was well received and we enjoyed the friendly folks there.

There are three things that we have been hoping for regarding this ministry. Two of those were provided here in Creede.  One was a new DVD, and the other was to be able to add music to the presentation.

One of the church members, in addition to being on the local police department, is also a videographer. He recorded a really good DVD of the performance, something we were very much in need of. We were thrilled about that and felt truly blessed.

Bill, being an extremely accomplished musician, spent a lot of time helping Don out with the musical part of some of his future presentations.

Don’s next presentation will be a dramatization of the gospel song, ‘Mary Did You Know?’ By the time we arrived in Creede, Bill had developed a special arrangement of this song.

Bill and Don spent Sunday afternoon working on it and it came together very well. Bill will be recording this arrangement with vocals and sending it to Don soon. He also will record two other songs for Don to use in his other future presentations.

On Monday, Teri had doctor appointments in Durango, about 2-1/2 hours away. It was a beautiful drive with mountains, valleys and waterfalls.

On the way to Durango, we crossed Wolf Creek Pass (at more than 10,000 feet) and the Great Divide, marked by the line on the road.

We were all happy when Teri had a good medical report from her doctor.  All in all, we had an enjoyable, although long, day.

Tuesday was the day to drive the 4-wheel Jeep roads through the back country in Bill’s Jeep. This was really fun and in spite of it being very rough and bumpy. We saw lots of beautiful country.

We started off by driving through Creede and up the canyon…

…through the historic silver mining area.

There were lots of picture opportunities along this area…actually on the entire trip.

Our plan was to follow the Jeep road up to the top of the mountain and back down the other side.

Teri and I bumped along in the back seat with the guys in front, Bill skillfully keeping us on the road.

Unfortunately, there was still snow over the road shortly below the peak. Since we were by ourselves, and not with another Jeep equipped with a winch, we did not want to risk getting stuck in a remote area where we could not get out.

We stopped and took in the views before heading off to Rat Creek to attempt the trek to the top of the mountain from the other side.

Rat Creek is a rather unfortunate name for a pretty stream that runs along side the Jeep road.

Oh, did I say, “Bumpy?” I meant REALLY bumpy!!!

Once again, we ran into more snow before the summit, but the views were spectacular...

We found a pretty place to stop for lunch and then were back exploring again through the endless beauty.

Even though it was somewhat early in the season, we found some red and blue Columbine, the Colorado state flower. It was just beginning to bloom, growing out of a large area of lava rock. In another week or so this area will be covered with Columbine.

A couple of “spooks” at Ghost Lake.

We arrived back in Creede via a different road, which gave us sort of ‘aerial’ view of the town.

This also took us past an old historic church…

…and the grave of Bob Ford, the person who shot Jesse James. An interesting sign is beside it, “Closed for Repair.” We have no idea what that means, but got a chuckle out of it.

Oh, dear, I think I am in trouble. Don now has a serious case of Jeep fever…

Well, the time has arrived to finally head for home. It has been a great trip, but it is always good to get back home. We leave tomorrow. More on the final leg of the trip later.