MAY THE 4TH BE WITH YOU : Explorations Along the Extraterrestrial Highway

wayoflife

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Being that Cindy and I were gonna be helping to pit for EVO at the Silver State 300 race and that it'd be taking place on Cinco de Mayo, we decided to head out a bit early and specifically so that we could spend our "May the 4th", doing a little exploring, out along Nevada Highway 375. For those of you who don't know, this stretch of highway runs along the north side of Area 51 and because of it and the number of, "unidentified flying objects" that people claim to have seen out there, it's been given the name, the "Extraterrestrial Highway". With that said, the following photos have been declassified for your view pleasure and we hope that you enjoy seeing all the fun we had. :cool:

Even though we got a late start, it sure didn't feel like it thanks to the longer days that come with Summer being just around the corner. Here's a shot of JET Li taking a break along the shores of Walker Lake as we made our way down to Tonopah.
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Just as we were about to hit the pavement again, a big herd of big horn sheep hopped across the road and beckoned us to follow them for a bit.
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Fortunately, there just happened to be a length of trail we could drive along.
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I know it's kinda hard to see but if you look closely, you can just make out the herd grazing down by the water.
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After our fun viewing the local wildlife, we got back on the highway and continued our way south.
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As we got closer to our home for the night, we decided hop off the highway again and have some fun especially being that we still has so much daylight left in the sky.
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Unlike the last lake we were at, this was a little different.
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Our home for the night after a great day of just getting there - CHEERS!
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The ET Highway
One of the things Cindy and I love most about northern Nevada is that you can still find signs like this - 163 miles to the next gas station... on pavement! Exploring off road out here definitely requires a bit of planning and an ability to take care of yourself.
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Our first stop of the day was over at an old abandoned Army Air Field that was used during WWII to train P-39 Airacobra pilots and B-24 Liberator crews. Up until about a year ago, there were 3 hangers like this still standing. Today, there are just 2.
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It's fun to imagine what it would have been like to see a B-24 parked in this hanger.
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After getting back on the road, we made our way further to the east and made a stop over at an old hot spring resort. While it hasn't been operational in years, the pool is unofficially still accessible and piping hot mineral water offers up a delightful soak.
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Shot of the water source pouring in over a highly mineralized fountain.
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As you can imagine, a curtain of steam billows from the pool in the winter time.
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Hopping onto Nevada Highway 375, the actual Extraterrestrial Highway, a new sign informs us that we now have 111 miles to the nearest gas and again, all on pavement. Time to hit some dirt!
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After a long drive out in the middle of nowhere, we made a stop to have some lunch up in the Grant Range.
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I think our lunch is just about ready to come out of the oven :cool:
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It's in a vast and desolate place like this that you start to wonder if your MPG calculations are correct.
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The City
If you look out toward the horizon, out toward the grouping of tree, you may just be able to make out earthen berms that shield the view of a massive art installation out in the Garden Valley. Created by artist Michael Heizer and known as, "The City", this art installation was started back in 1972 and has since cost of over $25 million to construct. At about one and a quarter mile in length and about a quarter mile in width, when finished, this will be one of the largest man made sculptures ever built. Oh, did I mention that it's all on private property? Yeah - that's why this is the best view of it that we could get.
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For those of you who are interested, here's what it looks like from the air (found on Google).
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And here's what some of the built structures look like (found on Google).
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As we were climbing around the hills, I came across some fossil bearing rocks.
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Working our way to the south across the Seaman Range.
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ET Highway Part 2
Back on pavement and gassed up, we circled around and started to make our way back to the west and once again on the Extraterrestrial Highway.
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Our first stop along the ET Highway was over at the Alien Research Center. Essentially, a glorified alien gift shop.
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There's a wall inside of the Alien Research Center that you can sign and I did just that back in 2014 when we made a stop here with the JK-Experience. Amazingly, it's fading away but it can still be seen here on the wall.
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Being that this is the Extraterrestrial Highway, warning signs for things like cattle on the road always include aliens in them too.
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Dead Town
Back off the beaten path, we made our way out to a massive old tungsten mine that had been in operation since 1938 and only suspended operations in 1982 after prices for the mineral had dropped world wide. Unlike old mines from the 1800's that have a "ghost town" feel, the modern buildings and structures here give it more of a "dead town" feel - as in, it's the kind of place you'd expect to find dead bodies or worse, zombies and this as opposed to ghosts. This is the main office for the mine.
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From the main office, looking out across to a massive concrete hopper.
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Across from the hopper was the main mill facility.
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Exploring the main office building. It's a shame that so many of its previous visitors - Jeepers of all things (they tagged the walls to make sure everyone knew), felt the need to destroy anything and everything inside of it. :rolleyes2:
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Looking down on the locker room.
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Heading down stairs.
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Names of some of the miners are still on the lockers.
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After we got done exploring the main offices, we made our way up and around the mountain and out to the main entrance of the mine. Here you can see massive pieces of equipment still laying around.
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Standing along a ore cart rail line and looking back toward JET Li.
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This massive mine contains 10 patented claims and has 8 mill sites spanning approximately 200 acres and addits like this can be found throughout the area.
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The main mine entrance does have massive steel doors that can be used to keep people out but they were open for us and I should note, a cold wind was blowing out of them.
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Taking a look inside the mine.
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Hard to say if this berm was put there on purposes to keep people out or a cave in. Either way, the mine tunnels go on for what seem like forever.
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The rail tracks leading out of the mines all end up at the top of this enormous concrete hopper that looks like a gun emplacement.
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Just to give it some scale, here's a shot of me standing at the base of it.
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It's hard to say for sure but it looks like ore was dropped through this foundation that had an auger and then a conveyor belt transported it to the mill down the hill.
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Down at the mill.
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A few shots from inside the mill. Hard to believe so much money was spent building all this and now it's all abandoned.
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On the other half of this building stood tall concrete piers that I can only assume held a stamp mill.
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Just to give you an idea of how big this building really is, here's a shot of JET Li inside of it.
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Because this mine had been operating for the better part of the 20th century, there were a lot of structures and equipment that looked both old and modern. This old building housed a large inventory of core samples and as you can see, it looks like it was built in the early 1900's.
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Inside you can see trays upon trays of core samples.
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Further down the hill was a garage for fixing vehicles and equipment.
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Little A'Le'Inn
After a really long day of exploring, we arrived at our new home for the night - the Little A'Le'Inn.
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Watching the sun go down.
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Our humble accommodations.
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Time for some grub and some grog!
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To an awesome day out in the middle of alien infested nowhere Nevada - CHEERS!
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The next stop - the Twilight Zone.
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Race Day
Cinco de Mayo was race day for the Best in the Desert Silver State 300 but being that the start time wouldn't be until noon, Cindy and I decided to get up early and do a bit more exploring before meeting up with Team EVO.
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Ah, so nice to be back out on the trail!
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It didn't take long for us to come across a cool old mining cabin.
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There's something to be said about making a home out of hand cut logs.
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Further to the east, we found ourselves pulling into town.
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Established back in the late 1800's, there isn't much left here except for a really cool rock house.
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If I'm reading this right, this home called the Alum-Alite Rock-House was last inhabited by a Tom and Bella Schofield.
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Another structure just down the way wasn't nearly as nice but still cool to check out.
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Before heading off to work, here are a couple of closer shots of what the fascinating butte nearby looks like.
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Finally, here are a few shots that Cindy took at the Silver State 300. A BIG CONGRATULATIONS goes out to Mel, Melvin, Harley, Greg and the EVO crew for their outstanding first place WIN:thumb:
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After a crazy long day, it's nice to know there are still a few places that are still open at 2AM - CHEERS!
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I hope you enjoyed following our adventures exploring the areas in and around the Extraterrestrial Highway and out at the Silver State 300. :cool:
 
Awesome pics, thanks for sharing!! You're absolutely right, it's got a real 'Chernobyl Diaries' feel to it..
 
Cool. Just had a long text conversation with my friend Paul Ondrus who was not the, as it turns out, the same one who signed under where you signed.


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Excellent post! Thanks for sharing! What is it like when EVO1 pulls into pits? Is it like NASCAR chaos, or a little slower speed? How long would you say they are in the pits before launching out again?
 
Man that’s a great trip!! Love the hanger and so much more of the trip. Then the race at the end. Very cool.
How many miles was the trip?
 
Very cool...and there is no way I could get my wife to stay at the A Le Inn, where alien abductions occur on a regular basis...wait, perhaps I should schedule a visit.
 
I especially like the shots in the hanger. Great composition. Always enjoy your explorations. The race was the reward. Would be nice to see things from the inside like you got to do.
 
That's very cool!

It's only a matter of time during one of those trips you're going to find ET!
 
Awesome pics, thanks for sharing!! You're absolutely right, it's got a real 'Chernobyl Diaries' feel to it..

LOL!! Love the "Chernobyl Diaries" :cheesy:

Looks like it was a fun journey as always! We will have to visit Nevada one of these days [emoji106]

It's definitely different out here. Extremely remote if nothing else :yup:

Cool. Just had a long text conversation with my friend Paul Ondrus who was not the, as it turns out, the same one who signed under where you signed.

LOL!! Took me a moment to realize what you were saying. That would have been crazy if he were the same guy.

Excellent post! Thanks for sharing! What is it like when EVO1 pulls into pits? Is it like NASCAR chaos, or a little slower speed? How long would you say they are in the pits before launching out again?

Oh no, we move as fast as we can. 2 minute pits or less if we can help it. :yup:

Awesome trip - thanks for sharing....

We're so glad you enjoyed the pics :)

Man that’s a great trip!! Love the hanger and so much more of the trip. Then the race at the end. Very cool.
How many miles was the trip?

Total miles was 1152 :crazyeyes:
 
Great pictures! It’s been many years since I’ve been to the Little AleInn. Good times.

The road sign art cracked me up.
 
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