Area 51: contact in the desert: Part I

Our trip was planned for two parts: one would be a five day reserved campsite and the other would be unplanned and see what the universe provides for us for the next five days.

The first leg of our trip was from Phoenix, Arizona to Henderson, Nevada. A four hour drive for Lance, who appreciated a hotel room the first night. When we arrived at the Hampton Inn & Suites in Henderson, we were given two bottle of water, fresh Arabica bean coffee from the coffee and tea bar, and fresh warm cookies out of the oven. We felt spoiled from the very start.

The next morning we had a wonderful breakfast and headed toward Rachel, Nevada on Interstate 11, then to US-93, and the Extraterrestrial Highway 357. 

At the intersection of US-93 and Highway 357, there is a place called ET Fresh Jerky. This place is cool because they have replicas of spacecraft to take your photo and there is a variety of ET and UFO souvenirs, as well as their jerky for sale.

The ET Fresh Jerky place

We picked up a stranded ET and adopted it for our camping mascot.

We adopted this ET

When you drive through the area, you’ll see Joshua trees and free range cattle. The skies were blue and clear. At night, it is suggested 45mph on this highway due to the cattle in the road. We saw many curved tire marks indicating vehicles swerving to miss the cattle.

Extraterrestrial Highway

On the way to Rachel, NV, we stopped at the famous black mailbox featured in the movie, Paul. It is located 15 miles south of Rachel, NV, on the left side (west) of the highway. You will miss it if you don't keep an eye out for it. Usually, there are people taking photos.

Lance at the Black Mailbox

Inside the Black Mailbox

Inside the black mailbox people leave stickers, rocks, cards and letters for the ETs.

We arrived at Little’Ale’Inn in the afternoon. We checked in with host Michael and set up our camper in one of the RV spaces that has water and electric hookup.

Photo from last year's visit

Little Ale'Inn lit up at night

Close up of the restaurant

Little Ale'Inn campsite

We found out the ground is the same as what we have in Phoenix, Arizona area, known as caliche soil. In other words, it's hard as cement. I just wanted to put up the extra screened room to see how it feels and looks. We could not leave it up due to the high winds in the area.

I couldn't even put up a flag I made for our outdoor solar lantern. Looks like we have to save these for mountain forest camping. This Coleman room is 10ft by 10ft and 7 feet tall. I brought an extra bed sheet to place on one wall for sun shade in the morning and late afternoon.

After a comfortable night's sleep with 32 F degree temps (0 C), we woke up the next day to start exploring the area. We have an extra large sleeping bag that is rated to minus 34 F degrees. Plus, in the morning, I turn on the central heater for about ten minutes to warm up the camper. The day time temps were in the 70s (21 C).

Part 2: Area 51 Back Gate