Nevada State Highway 375 extends for 98 miles, through some of the most desolate country in the U.S. It crosses three high desert valleys in south central Nevada – Tikaboo Valley, Sand Spring Valley, and Railroad Valley. Other than a scattering of ranches, the town of Rachel, Nevada is the only settlement, but you won’t find much there. The only gas station closed some time ago, a few mobile homes are visible here and there. Yet, tourists flock to Rachel. Why?
It’s less than 40 miles from Area 51. In fact, in 1996, the Nevada State Highway 375 was officially renamed The Extraterrestrial Highway.
The most famous spot in Rachel is out in the middle of nowhere – the Little A Le Inn, It’s a restaurant and an inn, where a room costs between $45-55 a night and if you bring along your pet, an additional $35 deposit is required. It also provides an RV hookup.
The area looks so desolate that I couldn’t imagine why anyone would decide to settle in Rachel, Nevada – except, of course, for its proximity to Area 51. However, 40 miles of open desert isn’t all that close, and if you’re crazy enough to hike in, you probably have to be a desert survivalist to do it.
But a visit could be interesting, all that open sky, no city lights to obscure the view at night. I wouldn’t mind a crazy trip like this, a journey through a mythic landscape that exists because of what supposedly happened at Roswell, New Mexico in July 1947.
The Little A Le Inn seems to be a kind of cultural icon, with everything a tribute to ETs. Here’s the menu:
53 miles from Rachel is the Alien Research Center in Hiko, Nevada. You sure couldn’t miss it!
And here’s a photo of the Black Mailbox, one of the landmarks, a spot from which to watch for UFOs.
And here’s a map showing the layout of Rachel and Groom Lake, where Area 51 is located.
Any takers for a trip like this?
geeeeee – i read this the day it posted and meant to come back later to comment – ANYway – what a trip that would be! in light of my own childhood experience with area 51 i’ve always wanted to go back as an adult – as i’ve mentioned before, our family traveled a LOT when i was a child – cross-country – and often we drove at night through the wide-open spaces/deserts of nevada and arizona – new mexico – texas – etc – the southwest – and just like nancy’s rancher, we saw “those things” all the time – a lot of them i remember as the “cigar” shape with lights encircling – we were never fearful – even us kids – we were mainly curious – and many many times stopped the car just to watch them “hover” or whatever – of course, the sighting from the bus my children and i were on was not one of those “benign” happenings in that it provoked fear – anxiety to get as far away from the craft as was possible – and to protect my children –
great post – packing bags now…. 😉
Wow, Nancy! But I must wonder (of course) if these are our own military machines, or if they are other-dimensional objects flying around and our military is fully aware of them. Who can know. Either concept is frightening to me. I’ll never be certain about my experience at WR AFB in GA….whether it was an implanted creation while my son and I were there, or whether it was exactly what it seemed. There is no doubt at all that we were on the base. But the character of the experience…..so many, many questions, and so few answers.
There is just no way of knowing, Math. I’ve heard people say that most of what we see are actually our own fleet of UFO’s. I think anything is possible, and I’m sure there is a LOT that we don’t know when it comes to our government.
I’ve lived in Nevada all my life and I can attest to some mightly strange things out in the desert late at night. But you have to remember, a large portion of air space is dedicated to the military. I have personally seen three different objects that cannot be explained easily. One was in the middle of the desert in an area near Fallon, Nevada where there is an air base that trains fighter pilots, one was near the Black Rock desert of Burning Man fame (on a ranch.) And one was right over a carpet store on a busy roadway at 8:00 at night in Reno! Were they extraterrestrial or just something the military was trying out? You just can’t know for sure in Nevada.
I was hoping u would comment, since u live in the state. & have had sightings, encounters.
The first was a cigar shaped craft that flew across our line of vision and when I excitedly pointed it out to the young man that lived on the ranch – he said they see “those things all the time.” I was about 13 years old at the time. The ranch was very remote.
The second one rose right up in front of us when we crested an old dirt road in the middle of the night. It just rose right up in front of us – like it was hiding, or resting, on the road. The lights all lit up and it rose straight up. We did a U-turn and high tailed it out of there and didn’t look back – screaming all the way. We later thought it could have been the stealth bomber as it came out a few years later and was the only craft that big that rose straight up in the air. This was outside of Fallon, Nevada, and I was in my early twenties (around 1974 or 75.)
The third was seen first by my daughter. Disk shaped with lights all around about a third of the craft. It just hovered over a carpet store in Reno, around 8:00 at night – we were just returning from dinner. My other daughter, in the car behind us, didn’t see it at all. By the time I turned around and went back – it was gone. This was around 2001 – 2002.
Nevada has some very strange tales to tell, that’s for sure.
I hope they’re vegetarians! Otherwise, we may be in a whole heap of trouble! Oh! You meant the burgers. Either way, hope the ETs aren’t carnivorous. That would not be good.
Good point!
Looks interesting,but like Mike,there are too many other places to explore first before I would make that trip.
But who knows?
Looks like fun! Are the Alien Burgers vegetarian? 🙂
Good question!
Have been debating whether or not to share this. May have been something; may have been nothing; but will go ahead and share. Last night just past twilight (6:00pm,EST), we were driving due south on A1A to have dinner with family in another town. Ocean was about 500 yeards due east of us; forests and national parks due west. Hubby slowed our vehicle; he loves planes and knows them. He said, “look at that? What is it?” There were five very bright lights in the sky, no particular formation, but still a “random” formation. At first, we thot they were helicopters (completely ruled out stars), but the lights never moved. They simply hovered over the water, maybe 600 or 700 feet over the water. There were some woods between us and the water, but also some clear areas. We stopped, got out, listened. Although there was an on-shore breeze, there was no sound except for the surf. No plane or helicopter sounds. These lights were BRIGHT. No colored ones. We got back into the car and started driving again, and one of the lights, the one that was closest to the shore, started gradually moving away from the others, same altitude, no noise, flying due west. Other vehicles were stopping to look, too. I don’t have a camera phone, so no pics. As the one light moved away, the others remained stationary. Didn’t blink. Nothing. Just sitting there over the ocean without motions of any kind except for brilliant light. Even helicopters move slightly. These lights were NOT copters, or planes. Have no clue what they were. But I’m an avid star-gazer, and hubby is a plane guy, and these were not either. Really weird. Totally silent bright lights just hovering, until the one departed to the west. Crazy.
Very interesting, Math!
We’ll go with you! And we’ll have an excellent photographer with us! 🙂
Have Jon video the trip!
It’s a plan! We will put him to work.
Funny, we were watching the movie “Paul” recently and I think that inn was featured in it. If it wasn’t the actual place, I am thinking it was definitely the inspiration — and we were talking about how one day we wouldn’t mind going to check it all out!
I guess this is a loose synchro, though we had that conversation a while ago.
I’d like to visit but it’s quite a way down my list – so many other places. Thanks for the photos. Who knows in life, I may get there one day.
A bit far, true!
Remember every frequency relative to UFOs/ETs resonates to 15/6? Highway
375 resonates to 15/6. Need more be said? 😉
Well, there you have it!