Ever up for an adventure, my sisters and I decided to hop into the jeep one Saturday morning in May of 2005 and head on out to this secret area. We knew the general area that the top-secret base was supposed to be: out by a little town called Rachel. We found Rachel on a map and knew how to get there. Through some digging on the internet we found some instructions on how to find the infamous Area 51.
After driving a couple of hours northeast out of Las Vegas, we felt we might be on the right track when we came across this:
What better place to find an area supposedly used to house downed alien spacecraft and aliens themselves, than on the Extraterrestrial Highway!
We drove along the desolate highway and eventually wound our way through some mountains. On the other side we discovered a large, flat, nearly empty valley. The only thing we could see on the horizon, was the small "town" of Rachel, NV.
As we came down off the mountain side, we found the next landmark to Area 51 - a dusty, dirt road hanging a left off the highway...marked by a single black mailbox. That was it. Nothing else to let you know what might be down that road. But it was the 2nd of our landmarks, so we hooked a left and started down the dusty road. It went on straight FOR-EV-ER (name that movie)...or at least felt like it. Finally we got into some hills and began negotiating the twists and turns. Suddenly we came upon the next clue that maybe we were in the right place and skreeched to a halt.
Crazy. As you can see in this picture, there was no other indication that you were about to cross over into restricted area...no fence, no line...nothing but these signs.
From a respectable distance, we stopped and read the signs. The most disturbing part was on the light white warning sign...at the bottom it reads "Use of Deadly Force Authorized." Don't have to tell us twice...we will keep our distance!
We sat there in the jeep (we were too chicken to get out and walk) and looked around. We spied what looked like cameras set up on the hills.
Were they watching us? Did they know we were there? We joked that by now they probably had zeroed in our the license plate of the car and knew everything there was to know about my sister. I don't have to tell you that it was kind of creepy seeing those cameras and signs in the middle of nowhere.
But then it got even creepier.
As I sat in the back of the jeep, looking through the view finder of my video camera I suddenly noticed something white off to the left side of the screen. I looked up in the direction, but couldn't really tell, so using the camera, I zoomed in.
While researching on the internet before heading out to Area 51, one thing that kept popping up over and over again was the legend of the white jeeps. Those who have ventured out to this area before claimed that men in white jeeps would sit and watch you. And we wondered: were there really men who sat out in white jeeps, watching as you approached the perimeter? Isn't that why they had the cameras?
Well, as I zoomed in...I saw what it was. Mostly hidden by the curve in the road...sat a white jeep! As calmly as I could I announced to my sisters that it seems we were really being watched. And with that...we were outta there. I kept my eye one the jeep, and as we drove away it followed just far enough behind to keep us insight, without us being able to see the occupants. We were kept in sight until we had rounded the bend and were well on our way of getting out of there.
Had we really found Area 51? We had definitely found some place that was being closely guarded. We kept a nervouse eye out for any cars, planes, tanks, whatever that might suddenly descent upon us. However, we made it back to the highway without any incidents.
After driving for 3 hours...10 minutes looking at pretty much nothing but desert and signs...we decided to extend our trip a little longer and pay a visit to The Little A'Le'Inn in Rachel.
Little more than a double-wide, this "inn" and cafe seemed to pretty much be the heart of Rachel, NV. There was one car parked in the lot, but we headed in anyway. Part cafe and part souvenir shop, one whole side of the double-wide was filled with every imaginable souvenir sporting some sort of alien theme. The walls, too, were lined with photographs of well-known people who had stopped by the Little A'Le'Inn. There were also news articles and magazine stories about UFOs, aliens, Area 51. We had a great time browsing through everything and enjoying all the "kitsch."
We bought our souvenirs, jeeped into the jeep and said our good-byes to the Little A'Le'Inn and Area 51. Another weird adventure under our belt.
I have been back just once more, to Area 51. A few years later my sisters and I participated in the Extraterrestial Full Moon Midnight Marathon, 1/2 & 10K (we just did the 10K). We didn't go on teh dirt road to the boundary of Area 51. But our race did start from the Little A'Le'Inn and ran along the highway at midnight...with only the light of the full moon to light our way. It was pretty cool to run in the middle of the night in the middle of nowhere. Unfortunately, the only close encounter I had was with a cow.
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