April 18, 2024 The Extraterrestrial Highway to Rachel Nevada

We woke to a beautiful day, packed up, stopped in Alamo to dump our tanks and fill with water and off we went north.

Pictures from the road:

Past ET Jerky - we did not stop:

We are on our way:

Many of these signs along the way but we did not see any cows:

The road goes on forever:

That road in the distance goes to Groom Lake which is part of the Nevada Testing Range:

Dry lake bed in the distance:

The town of Rachel in the distance and our destination for the next two days.  Yes, it truly is in the middle of nowhere.

We are staying at the Little A'le'inn - a combination of a restaurant, bar, motel, gift shop, and RV park.  It is the center of the town which has around 40 full time residents.

Once we set up we went over for lunch to try their Alien Burger - Yum!

Here is the bar restaurant with Smitty, Nikki, and Andy:

They were so friendly.  Notice the ceiling - there are dollar bills hanging.  They told us that last week it was super full so they cleaned it up and gave it all to charity.  The bills are from all over the world.

Smitty lives here part time and I think he is the ambassador for the town.  Every person that came in, he greeted and asked where they were from.  In the short time we were there for lunch, there was a group from Germany and a gentleman from Poland as well as many from different U.S. states.  They do a lively business...  (Because they are in the middle of nowhere).

Another part of the ceiling had all kinds of patches - police, firefighters - many first responders - Awesome!

After lunch we had to take care of a few things and change some of our trip.  Between that and many phone calls, we ran out of time to explore.  Since the military base is near by, we heard jets most of the afternoon.  We say "that is the sound of freedom".  God bless them.

Late afternoon, we went back to the bar for happy hour where we met Mike, another bartender, and our neighbors and learned more about the area.

What a great day.  Tomorrow we will be exploring (maybe even see some flying saucers), so stay tuned and enjoy today.

Miles Traveled: 57 Miles

Routes Traveled:

Nevada: US-93; SR-318; SR-375

April 16 - 17, 2024 - Aliens and Hanging Out

April 16th, 2024

Most of you know that we just LOVE Roadside Attractions and they are abundant here.  So off we went this morning to check them out.

First stop was the Extraterrestrial Highway Sign (we will be traveling that highway in 2 days).

Our next stop was the Alien Research Center and Gift Shop where "every alien hunter gets their supplies".  We were greeted by this lovely LARGE alien:

Inside there was even more aliens:

The ET Wall where folks left their mark.  (They are no longer doing this because of some of the notes - this is a family oriented place.)

Even Marilyn was here:

And lets not forget these cute dinosaurs:

He talked and moved his head and arms - too cute:

The mural in the parking lot:

We had a great time talking with the sales person and looking over the items.  She did tell us that the owners will be redoing the place to have more "alien" areas.

Our next stop was the ET Jerky place where "alien hunters can stock up on snacks." 

They had this awesome mural there.  I photographed it in sections.

Beautiful artwork!

Flying saucers all over:

Even on the outhouse:

Aliens all around:

Trump even stopped by:

Once we got our fill of aliens, we took a little ride to Hiko and Ash Springs.  Crystal Spring was between Hiko and Ash Springs and there is only a Wildlife Refuge left.

Part of the Wildlife Refuge:

What a beautiful area!  Coming back to the highway, we went past a farm with cattle and horses:

We made a stop for more wood and headed back to the RV.

We started a campfire, had great pork chops cooked over the fire, and then ended the evening hanging out until the sun went down.

What a great day!

April 17, 2024

Today was hanging out day!  We got a few things done around the RV.  I finished up some paperwork and some blogs.   Also did some more trip planning.  We need to change some of our routes so tomorrow I hope to get some reservations in place.

More shots from my backyard:

We ended the evening with another great campfire.

We have really enjoyed staying here and will come back.

Tomorrow we head northwest so stay tuned and enjoy today.