More driving
Today, more driving. We have to relocate from
Canyonlands towards Mammoth Lakes/Yosemite area. There are two ways
to do this - head to Vegas, and then drive through Death Valley (in
these temperatures, we'd have to be mad), or to head across miles of
barren desert, and along the Extraterrestial Highway. So ET it was.
The
entire journey was 450 miles, and for the most part it was just long
straight roads across dry desert. Most of the time we could drive at
70+ mph, and just slow down every 30 minutes when the road bent! We
stopped for a picnic at a reservoir, and kept going through village
after village. In all, over 450 miles, we passed through TEN villages
(they all looked like towns on the map, but most of them only had 50
houses or less). One, called Cedar City, really was big - about the
size of Banbury. Can you imagine the drive - London to Aberdeen, on
dead straight A-roads, passing through only 10 villages (and with only
one toilet on the way!)
Anyway, the highlight of the trip was
the Extraterrestrial Highway. This 98 mile long highway runs alongside
Nellis Air Force base and the famous Area 51 Top Secret Area. Mainly
its just more straight road through the desert, but the excitement is
heightened by the fact that you're driving along the boundary of America's
most secret (well not really) facility.
Quick
history: Area
51, also known as Groom Lake, is a secret military facility about
90 miles north of Las Vegas. The number refers to a 6-by-10-mile block
of land, at the center of which is a large air base the government will
not discuss. The site was selected in the mid-1950s for testing of the
U-2 spyplane, due to its remoteness, proximity to existing facilities
and presence of a dry lake bed for landings. Groom Lake is America's
traditional testing ground for "black budget" aircraft before they are
publicly acknowledged. The facility and surrounding areas are also associated
-- with varying levels of credibility -- with UFO and conspiracy stories.
In 1989, Bob Lazar claimed on a Las Vegas television station that he
had worked with alien spacecraft at Papoose Lake, south of Area 51.
Since then, "Area 51" has become a popular symbol for the alleged U.S.
Government UFO cover-up (the
Rosswell Incident)
The ONLY THING ON THIS 100 MILE ROAD is the 'town' of Rachel,
which has loads of caravans and two permanent buildings. One of them
is a petrol station (phew!) and the other is the A-LE INN. The girls
loved it! Especially the fake aliens that they could sit with inside
the coffee shop. They sold loads of different souvenirs - T-shirts,
aliens, Alien driving licences, alien key rings, Area 51 posters etc
etc. And books, lots of books telling stories about Area 51 and the
various UFO encounters around the world. And on the walls, lots of photo's
of UFO's. We've seen lots of tacky things in the states, but this really
beats them all!
After tea at Rachel, we drove another 200 miles to Tonopah, where we crashed into a motel at 10pm, after 12 hours of travelling. Lots of people asked me "What do you do all day when you're travelling". Well, there's a good example of a whole day used up!
The
entire journey was 450 miles, and for the most part it was just long
straight roads across dry desert. Most of the time we could drive at
70+ mph, and just slow down every 30 minutes when the road bent! We
stopped for a picnic at a reservoir, and kept going through village
after village. In all, over 450 miles, we passed through TEN villages
(they all looked like towns on the map, but most of them only had 50
houses or less). One, called Cedar City, really was big - about the
size of Banbury. Can you imagine the drive - London to Aberdeen, on
dead straight A-roads, passing through only 10 villages (and with only
one toilet on the way!)Anyway, the highlight of the trip was
the Extraterrestrial Highway. This 98 mile long highway runs alongside
Nellis Air Force base and the famous Area 51 Top Secret Area. Mainly
its just more straight road through the desert, but the excitement is
heightened by the fact that you're driving along the boundary of America's
most secret (well not really) facility.Quick
history: Area
51, also known as Groom Lake, is a secret military facility about
90 miles north of Las Vegas. The number refers to a 6-by-10-mile block
of land, at the center of which is a large air base the government will
not discuss. The site was selected in the mid-1950s for testing of the
U-2 spyplane, due to its remoteness, proximity to existing facilities
and presence of a dry lake bed for landings. Groom Lake is America's
traditional testing ground for "black budget" aircraft before they are
publicly acknowledged. The facility and surrounding areas are also associated
-- with varying levels of credibility -- with UFO and conspiracy stories.
In 1989, Bob Lazar claimed on a Las Vegas television station that he
had worked with alien spacecraft at Papoose Lake, south of Area 51.
Since then, "Area 51" has become a popular symbol for the alleged U.S.
Government UFO cover-up (the
Rosswell Incident)The ONLY THING ON THIS 100 MILE ROAD is the 'town' of Rachel,
which has loads of caravans and two permanent buildings. One of them
is a petrol station (phew!) and the other is the A-LE INN. The girls
loved it! Especially the fake aliens that they could sit with inside
the coffee shop. They sold loads of different souvenirs - T-shirts,
aliens, Alien driving licences, alien key rings, Area 51 posters etc
etc. And books, lots of books telling stories about Area 51 and the
various UFO encounters around the world. And on the walls, lots of photo's
of UFO's. We've seen lots of tacky things in the states, but this really
beats them all!After tea at Rachel, we drove another 200 miles to Tonopah, where we crashed into a motel at 10pm, after 12 hours of travelling. Lots of people asked me "What do you do all day when you're travelling". Well, there's a good example of a whole day used up!
We’d booked our motel two weeks ago over the Internet, because
accommodation is very difficult to get, and expensive, during holiday
weekends. The town of Mammoth Lakes is a winter ski resort, and used
for hiking and mountain biking in the summer, and as a result has the
look and feel of an alpine resort – lots of chalets and wooden-log buildings.
The girls just wanted to relax, after all the time in car, and so did
we, so Friday evening and Saturday was just spent swimming. The big
news is that Emily learnt to swim without arm bands, and successfully
went from “I’m not taking them off” to swimming the width of the pool
in the space of 2 hours. And Charlotte learnt to dive (Yes, I know that
it’s not the world’s best photograph, but it’s the only photo we’ve
taken in the last 48 hours, so you’ll have to make do with it!).