Extraterrestrial Highway - Area 51 Planning

[Dave_Pete]

For part of our shake down cruise in Lil' Queeny, a resto-mod 1968 Travel Queen truck camper blogged about in multi-part for multi-years over in Truck Campers, we're planning a late winter/early spring trip down into Death Valley, and on the way there, an end run around Area 51, the Extraterrestrial Highway from east side to north and then down the west side..

This is a request for those of you who have done it, or those of you who haven't - but have thought about it, or for those of you who just aren't sure if you have or haven't been there, what points of interest, audio files to listen to whilst traveling the long stretches, or "must see" videos to have along for those long evenings while watching outdoors, in the dark, for signs of life in the sky (you know, multi-tasking).

We love to start a compilation for those travel ideas. Thanks!

[Dave_Pete]

ppine wrote:
I have worked around there a few times. Off the highway are things like wild horses, wild sheep, eagles, wildflowers, hot springs, people working cattle, and sunsets. You can't just stop on the highway and see those things.

That's nice. Same around here. That's kinda why we're working ourselves out of a bad TT choice and get back to small with Queeny. Then we can tow Lil Willy (our Willys Jeep) around again where we like to go low and slow like your description.;)

[ppine]

I have worked around there a few times. Off the highway are things like wild horses, wild sheep, eagles, wildflowers, hot springs, people working cattle, and sunsets. You can't just stop on the highway and see those things.

[Dave_Pete]

clikrf8 wrote:
We also enjoy Nevada. From Tonopah east to Ely or traveling the ET highway, make sure you have adequate fuel. There are places to explore: wild horses just east of Tonopah (there is a sign). A few miles further east is Lunar Crater National Geologic Monument which looks very moon-like. It is a graded gravel road to the crater. We drove beyond and camped by a lake. One of the quietest places we have ever been and darkest. Loved it! Enjoy your camper.

Just noticed this. Thanks for the ideas. We'll try out both the horses and the Crater. Right up our alley.

[Dave_Pete]

No Grandma Lynn, YOU'RE beautiful!

Thanks for the delightful reply. 😉

[grandma_lynn]

Stumbled across your post, interested in someone that wanted to check out the extraterrestrial highway, sounds like an awesome adventure. Had to go looking for other posts so I could see pictures of Lil' Queenie, she is beautiful. Had one and loved it and have wished more than once that we would have kept it and restored it. Enjoy the trip.

[clikrf8]

We also enjoy Nevada. From Tonopah east to Ely or traveling the ET highway, make sure you have adequate fuel. There are places to explore: wild horses just east of Tonopah (there is a sign). A few miles further east is Lunar Crater National Geologic Monument which looks very moon-like. It is a graded gravel road to the crater. We drove beyond and camped by a lake. One of the quietest places we have ever been and darkest. Loved it! Enjoy your camper.

[Dave_Pete]

I want to believe.

[ohhell10339]

Well, to each his own. I'm sure that SOME people like Eastern Nevada, if for no other reason than probably not all the people who live there are doing so involuntarily 🙂

To me, growing up in California, Nevada was always the big empty place that was in the way between me and someplace interesting, like the Rockies. It would be cool, I thought, if you could cross the state line on I-80, blink, and then reappear at Wendover, like a tesseract or something (not that you wouldn't still be in for another two hours of nothing).

But yeah, Nevada has some interesting dirt, and rocks, and old abandoned prospectors' cabins. And I can't deny--space. Emptiness. Solitude. Nothingness. Quiet. And where else can you drive straight through a crater from a past nuclear explosion? Bring your Geiger counter! (Cancer rates downwind from the test sites have been thirty times the national average, though the government has never taken responsibility.)

[rocmoc]

camper19709 wrote:

enblethen wrote:
A must is a lunch at Rachel at the al e in
What your fuel level!

Yes, Lunch at The Little A'Le"Inn in Rachel is a must. Friendly and the food is good. Also, you must stay overnight(boondocking) in the gravel lot across the street. It was fun if not a little creepy 🙂

Have to agree, great boondocking across from the restaurant but the food is good at best. But it is a bucket list stop! Go for just the burger! NO ATT wireless service and the wifi provided is only inside of the restaurant. The highway itself is not any different than any other in Nevada except the sign on the highway. Yes we took lots of pics!

rocmoc n AZ

[Dave_Pete]

bigjimcruising wrote:
On your way down I'd recommend an overnight in Ely NV for fuel and any stocking up you need to do. Check out the town, was pretty nice and friendly when I was last there.

Heading down the east side of NV is a nice drive through differing eco systems.

Fuel up anytime you get the chance or at least make sure you know you have enough fuel to make the trip as I don't recall many places to get fuel along the way.

Make sure you get your "glory" pics under the highway signs. Fun to show friends that you really were on the Extraterrestrial Hwy. I hope the signs are still there.

Regardless of the food a stop in Rachel is a must. Enjoy it, get some food and shakes. Check out the Area 51 stuff and don't forget your Alien drivers license! lol Pay attention to all the signs, inside and out and have your cameras ready for some silly fun shots.

I hope to be out that way again in a year or two. Always try to camp out there and sit out nights wondering what the heck that thing flying really is?

Oh hell Ohhell! Nothing from nothing leaves nothing, gotta have something.

When we first moved to Wyoming (the non-treed area) we used to return to our previous home state and tell everyone what a beautiful shade of gray everything was. Then we "learnt" appreciation for "difference".

When you stop, get out, look, smell, listen, yes even taste - appreciation shows through. What a world we have, that we don't need to discount and deplete. Least of all, with any expectation of nuclear blasts having no effect! My God Man!

By the way, in case anybody is wondering, Yellowstone is stupid. nothing to see, move along kids!

Bigjimcruisin' what a great write up! You have the "something" in you, it comes out nicely.

We'll study more, about best routes at the time of year we plan, but like you said, we'll start in Ely area.

Back when I was kid, I had this cool 1968 (yes, like Lil' Queeny) Chevy 1/2 ton 2 wheel drive. Cherry red with the 327 mouse motor. Two sisters with. Mom and Dad coming along eventually in the truck camper. From Delta to Great Basin National Park I got that truck up to 80! 80 MPH by Gosh if it was 30!

LOL. Cool stuff in what many call waste.

[Off_Pavement]

ohhell10339 - Thumbs down!

Ok, I get southern Nevada isn't for everyone, but some of us absolutely love it here. I know of no other place in the US where you can find such incredible solitude. The geology is spectacular, at least to some of us. We marvel at the history of old-time pioneers and prospectors that roamed these lands. And there is water and animals and plants aplenty... if you get off the beaten path.

Obviously, you are not interested in the backcountry of the Mojave Desert, but me, and plenty of others have a distinctly different feeling about what is here to see and do.

Just a differing opinion on what I consider the greatest area of the USA.

[ohhell10339]

Between Vegas and Ely, there is nothing. Between Tonopah and Ely, there is nothing. Between Reno and Ely, there is almost nothing. Between Delta, Utah and Ely, there is absolutely nothing. And yes, I'm including the "town" of Rachel, which is a lunch counter and a cheesy "alien"-themed souvenir store.

There is a reason why the government chose eastern Nevada for its nuclear test sites and was going to put the MX missiles there. It's just about the only place in the US that doesn't look any different after several nuclear blasts.

And when I say nothing, I mean parched, treeless piles of dirt that go on for hundreds of miles, with some snowcapped mountains in the distance that you can't get to. Facilities are hundreds of miles apart. And God help you if you break down out there--if you can get a cell signal and summon a tow truck from Little Skeleton Flats 125 miles away, you'll be stuck in a four-room hotel for a week while Clem the Mechanic gets the parts you need from Las Vegas or Reno.

IMHO, visiting this Godforsaken part of the country is a horrible waste of time, so little of which is allotted to us on this mortal orb.

[bigjimcruising]

On your way down I'd recommend an overnight in Ely NV for fuel and any stocking up you need to do. Check out the town, was pretty nice and friendly when I was last there.

Heading down the east side of NV is a nice drive through differing eco systems.

Fuel up anytime you get the chance or at least make sure you know you have enough fuel to make the trip as I don't recall many places to get fuel along the way.

Make sure you get your "glory" pics under the highway signs. Fun to show friends that you really were on the Extraterrestrial Hwy. I hope the signs are still there.

Regardless of the food a stop in Rachel is a must. Enjoy it, get some food and shakes. Check out the Area 51 stuff and don't forget your Alien drivers license! lol Pay attention to all the signs, inside and out and have your cameras ready for some silly fun shots.

I hope to be out that way again in a year or two. Always try to camp out there and sit out nights wondering what the heck that thing flying really is?

[Orion]

enblethen wrote:
A must is a lunch at Rachel at the al e in
What your fuel level!

That place was really memorable for us too as the worst burger I've ever had!
I really enjoy both of those routes past Area 51, 95 and 93. We stopped near Creech Air Force to watch the Reaper Drones fly around. Later I found out that the RAF had been flying them there as training missions, but from the UK!