September 15, 2011
I have always wanted to drive the ET Highway. Ever since I found out there was such a thing as an Extraterrestrial Highway I have wanted to drive down it, just to see what is there. I figured that they must have given it such a name for a reason and whatever that reason was it is bound to make a good story.
The fact is that the lonely stretch of two-lane road running between the tiny towns of Warm Springs and Ash Springs in Nevada has had more UFO sightings than any other stretch of highway in the country. So many in fact, that in 1996 the state legislature decided to name the highway after the many alien visitors that it seemed to be attracting...thus the Extraterrestrial moniker. It seems to be a fitting name.
I have been to Nevada many times in the past but always managed to bypass the ET highway in favor of other, more well-traveled and populated paths...those typically traversed by most tourists either on their way to the mountains further west or the bright lights of Vegas to the east. Since I recently became a UFO investigator however, and since I am now taking a greater interest in the study of ufology, my priorities have changed. I was not about to let the ET highway pass me by again. This is how I recently found myself driving through the tiny town of Ash Springs and turning west onto highway 375...the Extraterrestrial Highway.
As soon as I made the turn I glanced at my watch. It said 3:33 Pm. Repeating numbers...that was an ominous sign. Or maybe not. I still haven't figured out what the number thing is supposed to mean. Which ones are good and which ones are bad...I still don't have a clue. Not even after it had been explained to me by several different people. It didn't really matter. Even if it meant that death, destruction and an entire armada of aliens waited for me I still would have driven down that highway. I was determined to do it, regardless of what the numbers meant.
Before I was able to think about it further I quickly found myself slamming on the brakes and making a U-turn. In my haste to start my journey I had accidentally driven right past the ET Highway sign. I had to go back to take a picture of it. I was not about to undertake such an interesting endeavor without documenting my adventure. Of course, there wasn't really much to document. The sign was plastered over with dozens of bumper stickers and spray-painted graffiti. It seemed as if everybody from Terlingua to Tahiti had left their mark there. I looked closely to see if any of them said Andromeda or Pleiades but could not find anything unearthly. I guess since their civilization is so advanced the ETs must have gotten past the primitive and juvenile stage of marking their territory...either that or they just haven't invented the bumper sticker yet. I don't even know if UFOs have bumpers.
I started driving again and just as quickly came to another screeching halt as a giant gray alien zoomed past me on the right. Actually I was the one doing the zooming, the gray alien was standing still. It was probably because he was made out of metal. So was the building he was standing next to. I quickly made another U-turn and pulled into the parking lot.
The building was a big rounded metal thing kind of like an old World War ll airplane hanger. A sign on it said "Alien Research Center." The alien must have been standing guard over it, possibly doing research into what kind of people would stop at a place called "The Alien Research Center." He peered down at me with his lifeless alien eyes, watching my every move. I moved towards the front door and pulled the handle. It was locked.
A sign on the door said it was open on Saturday and Sundays. It was Sunday afternoon but there was nobody there except me and the thirty-foot metallic ET. Through the glass I could see alien themed T-shirts, coffee mugs and more of those infernal bumper stickers. At one time it must have been some kind of a tourist attraction but there was not a tourist in sight. Hmm...Maybe they all got abducted.
A few minutes later I was driving westward again and a few minutes after that I was once again pulling to a stop. This time it was just to admire the scenery. The little two-lane road threaded itself through vast expanses of open desert that stretched out for miles and miles on each side of the highway. Mountains arose off on the horizon. A few Joshua Trees and Saguaro cactuses put their arms in the air and waved at me as we went by. Other than that not a living thing could be seen in any direction.
If anybody wanted to hide something, like an invading alien base or a Top-Secret military installation, the middle of Nevada would definitely be the place to do it. The land is inhospitable and arid, with temperatures routinely topping 100 degrees in the summer. Any traveler who found themselves wandering down the winding stretch of road in the middle of nowhere would certainly not be there by accident. It kind of reminded me of what the old-timers used to say about West Texas, "it's a thousand miles from civilization and two feet from Hell." That describes central Nevada pretty well.
It is also unbelievably beautiful. The day I was there puffy, white cumulus clouds were casting shadows all over the land, turning the desert into their playground. The colors and patterns were amazing. A blue azure sky hung over purple mountains that flowed red and orange into the valley. Dark green cacti and golden scrub grass changed colors as the shadows passed over head. I couldn't help pulling to the side of the road every few miles to take pictures. At the rate I was moving it probably would have taken an entire day to get from one end of the 98 mile-long highway to the other, but I didn't care. I was enjoying my trip immensely.
So engrossed was I in marveling at the desert's beauty that I almost didn't even see the "black" mailbox that was supposed to be on the left side of the highway. This is the infamous landmark that marks the intersection of Mailbox Road, the mysterious dirt path that leads to Groom Lake Road and the entrance of the legendary Area 51. Of course it did not help that somebody had stolen the street sign at the intersection. More confusion was caused by the fact that the "black" mailbox isn't actually black, although it used to be.
The mailbox is owned by a guy named Steve Medlin, who owns a ranch in the area. Since there is no home mail delivery he has to make a six mile drive to and from the mailbox every day to get his mail. There were a few times he was surprised to find strange people going through his personal letters looking for Top Secret correspondence that may have been headed to the nearby military base. On more than one occasion he even found bullet holes in the box and his monthly bills. Finally he decided to replace the original black mailbox with a bulletproof white one made out of steel plates. The original was reportedly sold on Ebay.
The mailbox has become sort of a legend in conspiracy theorist circles. Every night UFO watchers gather at the box to look for unidentified flying lights. A few times each week they claim to see them...weird glowing, pulsating things that rise up from the mountains to the west then dance around the skies like oversized fireflies. I didn't see any strange lights while I was there but I did see the box. It was locked with a padlock and plastered with the obligatory bumper stickers. I took a few photos then headed down the road to another famous ET highway landmark.
The Little A'le'inn (pronounced "alien") is the local watering hole for ranchers and alien hunters alike. Located about midway down the highway in the small town of Rachel, The A'le'inn is the only restaurant in the area and despite its remote location has become world famous. Of course its fame doesn't come from being in the middle of nowhere but rather from its close proximity to Area 51, the mysterious military base where government-built UFOs are rumored to be hidden. It was actually the military base that put Rachel on the map...and gave the ET highway its name.
Back in the 1980s Rachel was just an old mining town that had seen better days. The mines had long since closed and most of the residents had moved away. The few hardy souls that remained struggled to eak out an existence. That all changed in 1989. That was the year that a fellow by the name of Bob Lazar started telling stories of a Top Secret military base where the government hid reverse engineered alien space craft. No sooner had the stories made news headlines than eager UFO hunters started flooding the area.
At first, the local people tried to ignore the new arrivals and their crazy tall tales but they soon discovered that no matter how far-fetched their stories seemed to be, the ufotourists were good for business. The little restaurant that had been on the verge of closing was suddenly beginning to make a profit, and the isolated little town was quickly becoming famous. People from all over the world were choosing Rachel as a vacation destination. Even the stars in Hollywood began to take notice.
In the early 1990s a movie called Independence Day was created using the officially nonexistent Area 51 as part of its plot. Naturally, the military tried to discourage the use of the name Area 51 anyplace in the movie but the film makers refused to give in. In fact, some of the filming for the movie actually took place just on the outskirts of the base near the town of Rachel. A few of the locals took part in the filming and can often be heard swapping stories about their brief moments in front of the cameras.
The film was released in 1996 and quickly became very successful, especially among UFO and alien buffs. Its popularity attracted the attention of state lawmakers who decided to capitalize on the fame of the film by renaming the highway in honor of the movie. That same year the little bar also changed its name to the Little A'le'Inn.
Although at first dismissing the UFO craze and conspiracy theories as a bunch of nonsense some of the people living in the area soon learned to embrace it themselves. The restaurant owners and many of the people who hang out at the little bar have become experts on the Top Secret base, and they even sell maps showing visitors how to get there. There is even a guide service that will take people on a tour of the area's UFO related attractions for a fee. A stop at the Little A'le'Inn is always included on the tour.
The Inn itself is not all that spectacular...just a small white building that serves as a bar with a few mobile trailers parked out back for guests to stay in. It must be the atmosphere that attracts people to the place. What else would you expect from a town that lists its official population as "Humans...yes, Aliens...??" I pulled into the gravel parking lot, past the the sign that says "Earthlings welcome," past the tow truck hauling the fabricated flying saucer, and parked next to a sinister black pickup with government plates.
Inside, about a dozen sun-roasted ranchers, tanned tourists, and wild-eyed UFO enthusiasts were scattered randomly amongst the tables. A couple of kids were laughing and pointing at a green-skinned, inflatable alien that stared down at them from the shelf. A group of tourists poked and prodded at the alien-themed T-shirts and souvenirs. At the bar a Man in Black was engaging a local rancher in conversation. Naturally, the MiB was pretending to be ignorant of the whole UFO phenomenon but I know a Man in Black when I see one, so Ha!
I wandered around for a few minutes checking out the dozens of UFO photos that adorned the wall. Many of them I recognized as already proven hoaxes or obvious IFOs but that didn't stop the owners of the bar from putting them on display. They were good attractions for the tourists who often forked over their hard-earned cash in exchange for a copied photo. I wasn't interested in any cheap souvenirs so I moseyed on over to the bar and took a seat next to the MiB.
He seemed to be grilling the rancher on everything he knew about Area 51...where it was, how to get there, whether or not there was any secret ways in...as if he didn't already know. The rancher then told a story about a friend of his who went rabbit hunting one day and accidentally wandered across the military boundary. He quickly found himself handcuffed and in jail where he was interrogated for five hours and then forced to pay a $600.00 fine before they would let him go free. The MiB's eyes lit up when he heard that story. I later heard that the rancher got off easy.
I ordered up an "alien burger" (that turned out to be the size of a chicken mcnugget) then washed it down with a couple of cold brews. Afterwards, the bartender sold me a map with directions on how to get to the front and rear gates of Area 51. I then headed back outside, watching the Man in Black give me the evil eye as I walked to the door. I imagine that all of the other MiBs in the area already had me under surveillance. They must have been reading my mind.
The Little A'le'inn may not have been much to look at but my short stay there had thoroughly aroused my sense of adventure. The most secretive military base in the country was just a few miles away and there was no way on God's brown Nevada Earth I was going to miss an opportunity to see it...even if it did mean risking jail time and a huge fine. It was a forbidden land calling my name. How could any red-blooded conspiracy theorist ignore a siren song like that? I had to go see it.
I put my truck in gear and pulled out of the parking lot leaving the A'le'inn, the ranchers and the mysterious MiB behind. The ET highway...and Area 51...lie ahead.
