* * * * *
                                        
                            Snippits from Lost Wages
                                        
Still have yet to get the write up started, so yet another snippit from notes
I took:

> Road [US-93 in Nevada —Editor] actually has more
>  traffic than I expected.
> 
> * * * * *
> 
> Stuck in traffic just outside
>  Alamo [1]—doing a slow 30mph (Miles per Hour)
>  A wide load spanning both
>  lanes is slowing us down
> 
> * * * * *
> 
> Bumper to bumper traffic
>  outside Alamo—400 population.
>  Rush hour 8:30am
> 
> * * * * *
> 
> Alamo has a motel
>  with showers and telephone.
> 
> “Notes from page 36 of “Viva Lost Wages” notebook”
> 

Yup, we hit rush hour traffic in a town of 400 along US-93 with only two
towns between Las Vegas and the turn to Rachel.

[Even out here there's traffic!] [2]

Rush hour traffic just outside Alamo, Nevada


But once we hit the Extraterrestrial Highway [3] the traffic cleared up and
it was smooth sailing to Rachel, Nevada [4].

[Yup, the road just kind of vanishes like that] [5]

The road to [DELETED-nowhere-DELETED] Rachel, Nevada.


Along the way, we passed one of the access roads to the mysterious Area 51
[6], which in this case, is a one lane dirt road heading off into nowhere (in
the photo below, it's the white line on the right side of the picture).

[Abandon all hope, ye who enter here] [7]

Area 51 is just beyond the mountains in the distance, at the end of the dirt
road.


We nearly missed Rachel as it's a small cluster of trailers on the south side
of State 375 (aka (also known as) “The Extraterrestrial Highway”) with only
three permanent buildings, one being the Little A'Le'Inn [8], one being the
gas station/super market (who's proprietor drives into Las Vegas each week
and buys supplies from Wal★Mart [9]) and the third being a thrift
store/community center.

[Earthlings welcome] [10]

The infamous Little A'Le'Inn.

[The vast supermarket in Rachel] [11]

The Gas Station/Supermarket

[Dig the old style gas pump, back when gas was below $1/gallon] [12]

The old style gas pump. So old it doesn't have display dollars, hence the
handwritten “2.” Gas was $2.89/gallon (this was last year—it's probably
higher this year).


For me, this was probably the highlight of the trip, even though we only
spent about an hour, hour and a half in Rachel. The next time I'm in Nevada,
I would definitely like to spend more time out here.

[1] http://www.lincolncountynevada.com/alamo.html
[2] gopher://gopher.conman.org/IPhlog:2006/07/18/rushhour.jpg
[3] http://www.conman.org/people/spc/about/2006/et-highway.html
[4] http://www.rachel-nevada.com/
[5] gopher://gopher.conman.org/IPhlog:2006/07/18/road-to-nowhere.jpg
[6] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Area_51
[7] gopher://gopher.conman.org/IPhlog:2006/07/18/area51.jpg
[8] http://www.littlealeinn.com/
[9] http://www.walmart.com/
[10] gopher://gopher.conman.org/IPhlog:2006/07/18/littlealeinn.jpg
[11] gopher://gopher.conman.org/IPhlog:2006/07/18/quik-pik.jpg
[12] gopher://gopher.conman.org/IPhlog:2006/07/18/gaspump.jpg

Email Sean Conner at sean@conman.org

.