Creede

I drove 11 hours to Creede on 4 hours of sleep. The night before was spent dealing with my friend Clay who had gotten popped in the side of his head in a bar fight which resulted in two patrons throwing glass beer bottles at random through the bar on their way out. The town of Creede was as I remembered it, tiny with the most beautiful mountains I’d ever laid eyes on. I strolled into my friends’ bar and made myself at home sampling the western beverages that I remembered from my times in Bozeman. The bar was filled with an eclectic group of hippie types, working class folk, and bikers. My friends introduced me to the bartender whose name was Megan, as well as, many of the other local patrons. One could tell that Megan must have experienced some crazy things by the amount of respect others in the bar gave her. Whether the respect was warranted or not I would surely find out as Megan would be one of my roommates. Megan had a spirit about her that was hard to pinpoint, but she seemed to be dedicated to working relatively hard and partying much harder than most.

The bar was relatively busy that night with the highlight being a minor skirmish that resulted in a 325 pound old drunk getting dropped to the ground by the bouncer LJ who was at least a buck smaller than this obnoxiously drunk dude, who kept trying to befriend me all night but would then slip in these one liners as if he thought I didn't get the fact that he was trying to make fun of me (likely due to the length of my hair). It was as if I had brought the drama of the fight in Oklahoma City the night before with me to Creede. But the truth was that I had stepped into an environment in which drama was a given.

Home Improvement Projects at the Halfway House

My first night moving into the halfway house was uneventful except for the fact that Daniel had an old dusty amp which I needed to power my turntable. I found a choice Maranz amp for free, went home and hooked it up and it sounded great. I had a small collection of vinyl and a nice pair of 80’s Bose Interaudio speakers. I would be looking for vinyl for the next few weeks. I went to bed early, although I could hear Phil Collins “I Can Feel It in the Air of the Night” clearly through the wall from the stereo which was located on the upper floor of our brown double wide. The house I moved into was pretty filthy, downstairs had a peculiar smell; something of a combination of vomit and cleaning products and there were some suspect looking stains on the stairs. There were beer cans about and heaping ashtrays. I got to know more of my roommates throughout the next few days. Alesia a 19 year old local was a cook in the restaurant lived with Megan upstairs in the house. Megan, Alesia, and her younger sister Danni had stayed up until 4 that night partying and acting crazy, I could hear yelling at one point through my earplugs about how one of the girls loved cock and wasn’t into girls, I thought about getting up, but knew better. This would be a common theme, my lesbian roommates trying to hook up with girls in town. I needed sleep after partying with Daniel and Laura for the two days before I started work. I could only imagine how crazy the summer would be. I didn’t know what to expect coming to Colorado, I was keeping an open mind. I had partied quite a bit myself during my days, but had been very sober in New Zealand. I had learned to rely more on myself and to expect things to work out.

Mac’s Old Mine/OMI/Archibald’s Exchange

I started work the next day and worked in the kitchen the first day learning to roll dough and throw pizzas. This was certainly a change from the financial analysis I was doing in Austin albeit a welcome one. I had realized in my previous employment that sitting behind a computer for 8 hours a day was and is the most mind numbingly boring way to spend a day. The corporate/professional world could wait maybe forever for me. The next day I was pouring drinks and learning bar tending and by my second day serving I did $312 in sales and made $70. Daniel and Laura, my friends from college would be employing me as a manager at the bar and restaurant. I would be doing a little of everything, and had a lot, to learn. There were two really cute little waitresses Kate and Katie, one blond and one brunette. Katie was from Austin, Texas where I had been living before I had travelled to New Zealand and was 21. She was the one I had heard the night before defending her heterosexuality, in an estrogen permeated atmosphere. Kate was from Creed and was an under-ager. There were also two other waitresses Hadley who was dating a local law enforcement officer named Rory and Brooke who worked two jobs, supported her child and was into Malcolm one of the only two black dudes in town. Malcolm played in some local bands and ran Karaoke on Thursday at the restaurant. Two other bartenders worked at the bar both locals named Clint and Mel. Clint was a fourwheeling enthusiast with a souped up X-terra (this kind of says it all) and basically represented the entire local male contingency in the town, and Mel sang with the local bands. Jim and Sam were cooks at the restraunt and also lived in the Halfway House. Sam was also from Austin and was dating Dannielle from Monte Vista, CO a few hours from Creede. Sam and Danielle lived in the room next to mine and were rumored to have some loud sex on occasion, but it never was a problem for me. Jim was a 40 year old with the heart of an 18 year old that claimed to have had more experience with every sort of situation, hairstyle (including the perm mullet he sported), and hard drug we could encounter. Jim had lived in Creede for around 3 years and knew just about everybody in Creede. He literally walked into town on the Colorado Trail from Denver and never left.

more to come...