After being suffiently over the Vegas Casino thing we headed out into the desert again. One of Pauls bucket list items was to drive the Extraterrestrial highway and get to edge of Area 51. But before we did, we went poolside at the Hard Rock Hotel for an hour or so before heading off. The best pool ever. 37 ºC, fake sand and Rock and Roll over the speakers.
Heading of of Las Vegas we pulled over to wash the windscreen and ended up pulling over right next to Ellis Airforce Base. We pulled over on the side of the road and watched supersonic jets fly right overhead doing training exercises, was an incredibly lucky find and shit were they loud.
After refueling and cleaning the window we headed north west towards Rachel, Nevada and the edge of Area 51.
After 70 or so miles we go to the start of the Extraterrestrial Highway, from this point on there was little cellphone reception and ALOT of straigh roads.
There was a little alien themed wall stop at one of the turn offs that we got a few photos of before heading deeper into the desert.
To get the edge of Area 51 it was a huge straight bit of gravel road before you even saw the gate. It was obviously not well sign posted. It was a good 30mins of driving straight before we got there. You could always see any cars coming though.
When we go to the end of the road it changed back into a sealed road, and there was big warning signs as well as a suspicious truck parked up on the hill on the otherside. Clearly saw us coming and keeping an eye on us. We got a couple of photos and headed to Rachel. Theres also a black mailbox at the other entrance to Area 51 we stopped at.
Rachel was pretty much a little blink and you will miss it town, surrounded by straight roads, signs saying no fuel for 150miles and not much else. We stopped at the little diner “Little A’Le’Inn” for dinner, had a chat to a few of the others passing through and headed back towards Vegas.
It was an awesome drive back to Vegas with some great views of the desert on sunset and again we found a great spot just outside of Vegas where we could get some night shots of Vegas while the jets from Ellis flew overhead.
At the end of the day, the car was awesomely dirty and it was another bucket list item off ticked off. Tomorrow we head to Flagstaff, Arizona.
Total Miles = 350miles / 563km
Miles on car = 15,319