THE MIDDLE OF THE FUCKING DESERT
A trip to Groom Lake

June 26, 1994

By Dave Schmitz (a.k.a the writer) currently live in San Francisco. He works
as a Software Engineer contractor for the NASA Ames Research Center.

Ok, here's my story... After a fun-filled weekend of gambling, smoking cigars, and drinking many icy cold, alcholic beverages, I dropped my friend off at McCarran airport. He was leaving on Sunday and had to be at work the next morning. I couldn't get a flight out on Sunday and thus had to spend one more night in Las Vegas. After I dropped off my friend I ran down to the National Rent-A-Car and got my self a nice, pretty, white, chevy compact car. (looked exactly like a giant Tylonol). Then hopped in the car, grabbed some food and hit the road.

It took me about 2 and a half hours to get where I THOUGHT I wanted to be - Groom Lake/Area 51/Nellis Gunnery Range - the secret military base located right smack in the middle of the fucking desert. Why go there when visiting southern Nevada? Well, this is been rumored to be the most highly secure place in the country. It is birth place of air force's U-2 reconnaissance plane, the SR-71 and numerous other stealth aircraft. A close area south of Area 51 is rumored (from testimony from Robert Lazar, who is said to have worked at the area know as S-4) to be the parking lot for nine UFOs. In addition, everything, area 51, S-4, the buildings and people who work there are also completely unacknowledged by the government. Basically, none of it exists.

So, anyway, on with my story. It wasn't any hotter than it was in Vegas - the temperature still hovered around the 114 mark. After about 2.5 hours of driving through the desert I got to the valley right next to Nellis. Let me say that during those two hours I totally freaked myself out. I thought about EVERYTHING that was going through my life during the past several weeks. I also though alot about being arrested, thrown in some military shed and 'wrote off' as another one of theose missing persons. Then of course I though about UFOs, aliens and if they'd do the same thing the military would do. Hummm. At this point I was seriously thinking about turning around and just heading back to good ol' (safe?) Las Vegas and hitting the craps tables again.

However, after I gathered myself up that little ol' curiousity thing began eating at me again - 'Is there really something over those mountains? What the fuck are they hiding?' Who exactly are 'they'? Having these type of questions hovering over me, I decided to stick it out a little bit longer - after all it did take me over two hours just to get up here. So, I headed up the road a ways, about 20 miles or so, to a little, town called Rachal - Home of the Little ALeInn cafe/bar/motel. I stopped here, grabbed a beer, chatted with a few locals and enjoyed the kinda alien museum-like atmosphere. This place had tons of UFO articles & local photographs covering the walls. They had tons of stuff for sale - your standard coffee mugs, bumper stickers etc.. They also had a miniature UFO/stealth craft/alien reference library that customers are welcomed to browse through.

Well, I didn't find out anything to exciting but nonetheless it fired up my curiousity again. I bought a little guide to help me find my way - it's the 'Area 51's Viewers Guide' written by Glenn Campbell, a former software engineer who now lives in Rachal and keeps track of what's happening around Area51 and the Nellis Air Range. So, I read up about the area and decided to go check out what all the fuss was about.

After finishing the last couple drops of my beer, I hopped back into my Tylonol capsule and drove back (another 20 miles) to the valley right next to Groom Lake. It's here where the things get a little more scary - at least I think so. Then again, it was my first trip up there and I do tend to freak myself out on occasions for no apparent reason. Anyway, it's at this point where if you decide to press further you have to head off the main highway onto a dirt road - 'Groom Lake Road'. That idea in itself seemed a bit sketchy at the time. I mean, here I am, in a shiny white rental car, in the middle of the fucking desert, alone by myself, with absolutely no idea of what the hell I was doing - well, o.k. maybe not quite that bad but nonetheless, the situation was more than a bit intimidating. So, off into the dirt I go.

The road to the restricted area is around 13.8 miles long. It's a straight shot, you can see the road all the way across the valley. I started cruising about 40 mph (45 is the speed limit) leaving a nice 'look-here-I-am' dust trail behind my rental car. The dust kicked up by the car must have be visible for about 15 miles - there is absolutely nothing out here to hide behind! - besides lots of 4 ft. Josuaha trees, far away hills, and dust clouds.

About a mile and a half or two miles into my journey down the dirt rode, I noticed another dust trail far off in the distance. It was moving pretty fast and was running perpendicular to the rode I was on (towards the road). Soon, I saw another dust trail on the other side of the road, again, running towards the road I was on. Both trails were far off in the distance, probably a good ten miles or so <- just a guess. This made me a little nervous. I couldn't tell what was making the trails at this point.

A little farther down the road I could see flashing lights, every now and then, coming from the dust cloud which was now coming towards me. I slowed down a bit and again, considered ending my journey right then. I figured, you know, I've gotten outta the city for the day - it was paid for. (special thanks to the folks and craps tables at the Treasure Island Casino ;) My little stop at the Little AleInn was entertaining and in a strange kinda way it was a nice drive. Why not, head back to Vegas, suck down a few beers and play a little craps or blackjack. Thing was, I just couldn't get myself to turn around. I wanted to see who was driving out to greet me - in the middle of the fucking desert.

So, I continued down the dirt road. Sweating in my 65 degree, air-conditioned, white rental car. I continued down the road for another, say, 6 or 7 miles until I could finally make out what was in the dust cloud coming at me - FAST! It turned out to be an unmarked, white (good choice in colors ;) Jeep Cherokee, with lots-O flashing lights on the top of it. Now, I was ready to turn around and go home and thank god that I was not arrested and thrown in jail. But as you could probably figure out I didn't. I slowed down a bit more and began thinking if I'd remembered to pack phone numbers of people I could call who would lend me enough money for bail (No I didn't win THAT much in Vegas. ;) But, wait! Bail? Would they even consider letting me out on bail? Is this whoever in this cleverly disguised Cherokee just gonna shoot me? Hummmm.. Imagination overload once again...

I kept driving - finaling realizing that I haven't done anything wrong. I may be a bit outta place - O.K. REALLY outta place but I haven't broken any laws - at least none that I knew of. So, the Cherokee and the rental car got closer and closer until I could finally make out the person driving it. It was at this point that the lights on the top of the Jeep where turned off. Panic! I slowly slid by trying to get a glance of who the fuck this guy was. Not one marking on the Jeep. As we passed, the man in the Jeep watched closely as I continued pressing further down the dirt road.

Now that that little encounter was over I sped up a little. Glanced in my rear-view mirror, hoping to see the anonymous Jeep speeding away towards the highway. This wasn't the case. The Jeep was already turned around and following me. He stayed back about 20 yards or so. If I slowed down, he slowed down. If I sped up, he sped up. If I stopped, he stopped - always keeping that 20 or so yards between himself and I. Ulcers, white nuckles and more sweatcles. After another mile or so I saw another anonymous, white Cherokee Jeep sitting up on a nearby hilltop. The man in it had his door open and a camera of some sort pinned on my little white car.

After another half a mile or so, a great dust cloud appeared down the road in front of me. This didn't seem out of the ordinary, because there were always dust clouds sturing up and moving across the desert landscape. The dust clouds were kinda like mini-tornados, spinning their way across the valley. This dust cloud down the road, however, quickly took on greater meaning than a mini-tornado as a military Black Hawk helicopter rose outta the dust and suspended itself for a second or two above the road. Once again, I thought this was the end of the line. At this point I was so incredibly scared that all I could think of was nothing.

However, something inside my head, maybe the curiousity, kept me slowly keep creeping along the dirt road towards the Groom Range. To my surprise, the helicopter slowly drifted away from the road and off into the distance mountain range. What was I to do now? Was that a warning? Was it intimidation? HELL YES IT WAS!! I've never been so intimidated in my life. I've never felt so little, so insignificant, as I did in this situation. Sure, I've been scared but this was extremely different. Extremely intimidating. Alone, in a rental car, in the middle of the fucking desert, with a group of unmarked military people watching every step I made.!

My little white rental car continued seeping across the public land where I then encountered military signs stating that all photography, sketching, drawing of this area was strictly forbidden. Continued seepage brought me to the end of the line. This was the start of the restricted area of the Nellis Air Force Range. At the end were more signs - stating the fact that the use of deadly force is authorized on those who stray across the borders of the restricted range.

Before I started this little journey, I was committed to hiking up the path to 'Freedom Ridge' to get my very own view of the famous (but secret and unacknowledged) Area 51 military base, home of black project military aircraft and possible UFO space ships. I brought with me, everything I needed for the hike - backpack, water, extra clothes, sun screen. Funny thing was, that after all this watching and wondering, I didn't really feel like getting out of the car. I was really scared! Call me whimpy, call me a girlie-man. That's fine by me. It was scary! All this security... On public land. I didn't even do or see anything and I was being watched like a hawk. Every step I made was watched by either the Cherokee guys or by who knows who else. It's safe to say, my white rental car license plates were probably checked to see who I was. And someone probably has a few awful pictures of me and my sad, white rental car on some video tape or film rolls located somewhere in southwestern Nevada.

Nonetheless, this whole trip really got me thinking. It really made me curious to know what were they hiding. I think this was a extremely good FIRST trip to Area 51.