We Made It To Salida, Colorado

[@neils9944]

A month stay is a good idea. Gives you a chance to do some deep dive exploring as well as not stress about having to pack and move so soon. Looking forward to see what you find around the area!

[@RVREVELS]

That’s the idea! And same here, Salida is a cool spot if you haven’t check it out just yet?l 🤙🏽

[@pamelawaterman3960]

Love seeing your adventures. Grab a couple of diesel cans at Walmart and fill as back up if needed.

[@RVREVELS]

That’s the lesson we learned here! A little too close for our comfort zone

[@TirsoGarcia-j6w]

Outstanding video Trae, always is a pleasure watching yours videos

[@RVREVELS]

Thank you Mr. Garcia, glad you have kept up with us this year!

[@InterGaycialFreedom]

This was quite the adventure! Happy y'all made it safely and thanks for sharing HipCamp with us!

[@RVREVELS]

Thank you, it definitely was an experience for sure! Lesson learned to get a spare gas tank

[@pnwpaths2925]

I would suggest adding an after market upgraded transmission cooler if you guys haven’t done it yet. With the amount you guys travel and distance covered, it’s a must for sure.

[@RVREVELS]

That’s honestly a great tip! Definitely look into it.

[@stever6986]

Yeah, the State highway department discovered a potentially catastrophic crack in the steel under that bridge last Spring and it was completely shut down for several months, and everyone had to take the route you did. It opened to limited crossings for a while (which is likely when you encountered it) and opened to one lane continuous traffic a few days ago. The bridge is supposed to fully reopen by the end of the year, but it's been a major issue because (while remote) a lot of people use that highway (U.S. 50) as an alternative to I-70 or while traveling from Denver to the SW part of the State...and there are very few "alternate routes" along that highway between Gunnison and Montrose. While you're in Salida, go check out Buena Vista and Leadville, which are a short drive north up US 24 from Salida. Fun fact: The east side of Monarch Pass was used in the filming of Fast & Furious 7 (and I think much of the crew stayed at the hotel/motel located along the highway on that side of the pass because we drove through there during the time they were there) as well as also in Salida and on Pikes Peak, apparently. I'm not a big F&F guy, but I do know that F&F 7 was the last movie with Paul Walker, before his untimely death later that year.

[@RVREVELS]

I just told Jess about the F&F7 part (she loves the series) and now we want to drive back up it! Currently covered in snow but it’s about 15 miles to the peak from where we are.

[@stever6986]

@@RVREVELS Yeah, we happened to be driving between Poncha Springs and Gunnison during the time period that they were filming along U.S 50 in 2013 or 2014, and a lot of production trucks were parked around a chalet-looking hotel on the south side of the highway (We grew up in the LA area and my sister and her husband both work in the TV/movie production industry, so we're very familiar with the sight of production equipment/vehicles). Looking at Google Maps, it looks like it was probably Monarch Mtn Lodge in the "town" of Monarch, which is before you get to the old mining area or the Monarch Ski Area if driving up from Salida. If you're familiar with the movie (which I'm only because we watched it after it came out to see if we could find the scenes that they filmed up there), you'll recognize stretches of the east side of the pass (mostly portions east of the 'town' of Monarch) in the goofy climatic chase scene near the end of the movie. Welcome to Colorado!