Day 2 dawned bright and early, but we didn't. We were going to hook up with my friend, Max, early, but ended up getting to his place about 9am. I haven't seen Max in about 10 years, and Leisa's never met him. We had a brief, but nice, visit. 

We got back on the road. Every other time I've driven to Reno, I've gone up Highway 95. And every time I've taken that road, I've wondered where Area 51 is. For the non-conspiracy-theorists reading this, Area 51 is where your government hides all of the aliens and alien spacecraft they've shot down and recovered over the years. Stuff they don't want you to know about. You may recognize it from such films as "Independence Day," and TV shows such as "The X-Files." There's not much to be seen there. The installation is housed in a dry lake bed, surrounded by mountains, and heavily guarded.

Groom Lake Road is the main road into the facility. One of the roads that feeds into Groom Lake Rd. is marked by a "black mailbox," which has since been painted white.

Steve Medlin is the nearby rancher whose mail is delivered to this box. I presume he's added the auxiliary box to keep from confusing his mail with stuff from those wishing to send mail to the aliens.

Covered with graffiti already, the girls quickly added their names with a Sharpie.

We headed down the dirt road, where we eventually hooked up with Groom Lake Road, which is the best dirt road I've ever driven on. We were easily doing sixty down the dirt road. No washboarding. No potholes. I'd like to do a Freedom of Information Act request to find out how much the Government spends maintaining this road each year, but since they don't acknowledge the facility, I'm not sure they'll acknowledge the road, either.

Anyway, after driving down the road for a while, you're suddenly confronted with some signs. Some very scary signs.

The Wake-up Bunny got his picture taken by both signs.

But the guys in the vehicle up on the hill made both of us nervous, and we got back in the car and headed back down the road.

This is an open range, and cattle wander around here. When we were there, they stayed pretty close to the water tanks. It was hot. I have a theory on cattle this close to aliens. Remember all the cattle mutilations years back? The "black helicopters" swooping down on a Colorado farmer's livestock to kill cattle with surgical precision? It got in all the papers and the attention was pesky. The Government said, "let's rethink our strategy. Let's put the cows where the aliens are. Then we won't need the helicopters and stuff." I think I'm right. Google "cattle mutilations" and see when the most recent report was. See. Problem solved!

We headed back to Nevada 375, which they've named the "Extraterrestrial Highway," and steeled ourselves for the long trip to Carson City.

I should've 'shopped that a bit more so you can see the "Extraterrestrial Highway" a bit more clearly. Here's how the view down the road might appear to ET, whose eyes differ from our own.

All the roads in Nevada seem to be laid out with a laser. They just go on for twenty miles with no turns, just elevation changes. We found out what a wimpy car the Xterra is as we headed up these roads. Going uphill, you slow from 75mph down to 70, down to 65, and the cars I just passed are now passing me, laughing!

We eventually got to Carson City by about 9pm, checked into Crapshack 2, then hooked up with Gary at Stew's, a local brewpub, where we had dinner. Back to the motel with visions of Virginia City and Day 3 in our noggins.

Obligatory. I used to have this poster in my living room. That was one of the first things to go when Leisa started running my life.