There are no aliens

We spent about 20 days exploring the desert in the so called "Area 51" valley.  Although we saw and heard a lot of Air Force jets and even had a close encounter with two of them, we saw NO aliens. We went to the Area 51 research center, and to the Lil Alien cafe in Rachel.  What we discovered in rubbing shoulders with the local folks is that everyone talks about and jokes about aliens, but very few people out here really believe in them.  In my previous posts, I highlighted some of the alien "artifacts" that we found during our adventures.  Here is a explanation of what these things really were.

 Explanation of my discoveries in the desert...

Click on ET Highway in the right hand column of labels to view all my posts in reverse order.  Then scroll down through the various posts to find the pictures of the objects in question.  You will have to scroll down a ways before you find the first one.  When you get to the bottom, click on "older posts" to see more.

The mysterious pot - We actually found this near the highway.  It is old, but it is filled with hard, dry, asphalt.  It was probably left behind by a road crew.

Intact UFO - This is not an entire spaceship as I claimed.  It is really one of those "stick up" type room deodorants about the size of a 50 cent piece.

Radio Transmitter - This is actually an old battery charger.  60's vintage may be.

Shiny Pointed Object - This is the decorative cap off of a semi-truck lug nut.

Shiny Engine Cowling - This is actually the front bumper of a car.

Mini-thruster - I'm not sure what this is, but it is not a thruster because it is solid, not hollow.

Escape hatch cover - This is the top to a round cooler.  An ice chest.

High frequency antenna - This is the frame part of a car headlight.  It is the part that surrounds the bulb.  It looks like the kind used on the 1991 Jeep Cherokee.

Unidentified UFO Parts - Most likely old wagon parts.  Maybe a manure spreader or other such thing.

Small 14" UFO - This is a plastic tire, maybe off of a fertilizer spreader or garden cart.

10' Metal Wheels -  These are the remains of irrigation wheels.  The kind that you see in long lengths connected together by a central pipe with sprinklers.

UFO Landing Marks - This looks like a burned area but is most likely an old oil spill.

Rocket Nose Cone - I don't know exactly what this is but it is made out of injection type foam and is very light.  At one time it had a thin chrome skin on it.

White part of UFO (Held by Rebel Scum) - This is the lid to a round cooler.

Shiny part of UFO (Held by Rebel Scum) - This is a Stanley Thermos cup.

UFO Landing Zone - This is made of concrete, obviously man made.  I don't know its purpose.

It is only about 16 feet in diameter and right by a crude dirt road.

Strange Part - This is indeed a strange part but unless the aliens buys their parts in China.... it is man made.

Small alien space craft - This is actually the glass insulator from a big power line tower.  There was a row of towers near by.

Cow Head - The cow was probably not eaten by aliens but rather got hit by a car.

Alien Remains (bones) - These are bones from a cow that I arranged a little.  There are dead cows of various ages all over near the highway.

Tall Alien Statue - This is the "Area 51 Alien Research Center".  It is a large and interesting gift shop.  The alien is a popular photo op for tourists.

The Trip Home

It is time to bring this trip to an end.  Since we had no wifi during our travels, I am writing this a couple days late.

We left Tonopah on Monday morning, the 22nd.  We drove all day. The roads were snowy and icy as we travel through Austin, NV on the way to our campsite.  We spent the night at Water Canyon Recreation area, near Winnemucca, NV.  It is in the foothills above the city.  During the night, it snowed and got very cold.  In the morning, we were greeted to this scene.  There was about 2 inches of snow on the ground and the dirt road was solid ice.  Fortunately, it was a dirt road, so as we drove over it when leaving, the tires crunched through the ice to the dirt below.  We did not slide around.  When we got out of the foothills and into town, the roads were OK.

Winnemucca in the Morning

On Tuesday we left Winnemucca and again drove all day until we got to our 2nd campground near Burns, Or.,  Chickahominey Reservoir.  What a difference in the view.  The picture below was taken Tuesday night.  So we started out with ice and snow and ended up with a beautiful sunset.

Chickahominey

We got up Wednesday morning and finished our trip home.  Our route led us along Hwy 26 though Government Camp on Mt. Hood.  It was snowing pretty hard on Mt Hood and driving was a little bit scary.  This is the most dangerous road in Oregon.  It is a nice road but very busy and people drive crazy not paying attention to the conditions. 

One amazing thing to note is that while we were camped in Tonopah, we were at 6,047 feet elevation. Government Camp is only 3,888 feet.  Timberline Lodge on Mt Hood is only 5,942.  So we were camped all week higher than either.  It didn't seem like it.  Maybe that explains why we got so cold at night.  When we drove through Austin, NV the elevation at the peak of the highway was 7,500.

Arrived home about 3:30 Wednesday afternoon.  The new Jeep did OK but it sure cannot pull up the mountains like our old diesel could.

The Drive to Nowhere

 Today we took a long drive to nowhere.  It took most of the day.  Last night I was reading the owners manual for the new Jeep.  Under the heading labeled towing, it had a BIG warning that you are not supposed to tow anything until you have at least 500 miles on the vehicle.  We only had 260 miles on it.  I was very tempted to ignore the warning but then I thought,  "What if I really did damage something."  What if several years down the road I have this nagging doubt remembering how we violated the warning.

So, we decided to delay our departure another day and go for a long drive.  I set my trip meter and we took off down Hwy 95 toward Carson City.  We had to drive 120 miles out, then 120 miles back to make the 500 required miles.  It was a long drive to nowhere.  Rocks, sage brush, lonely desert with a few sights here and there.

One interesting thing... We drove through Hawthorne, NV which is home to the largest military ammo storage facility in the world.  It is huge.  We stopped to browse the Hawthorne Ordnance Museum.  It was closed but they have all kinds of neat stuff outside that you can browse through and you can look through the windows.  I took lots of pictures.

We had packed a lunch for the trip.  After we completed the 120 miles, we turned around a went back to camp.  Did some laundry and hooked up the Jeep.  Tomorrow we will head out.

Taking it easy

 Today was cool and very windy.  Uncomfortable to be outside.  We got around rather slowly and then departed for the grocery store.  We stopped by the old haunted cemetery to look it over.  It was pretty scruffy.  

Nicer view of cemetery

After shopping we came back to the RV and had lunch.  The Nevada Mining Museum was next on our plan for the day.  We spent about two hours at the museum.  They had lots of stuff outside but viewing it all was almost unbearable due to the wind.  They had lots of mining equipment and history.  They also has some WWII Air Force history.  They used to use this area to train pilots and crew for flying the B24 "Flying Boxcar" bomber.  The museum had a big pile of junk found at a crash site.  There were also relics from the first experiments with "smart bombs" that were radio controlled or TV controlled.  These early experiments were developed for WWII but were not very successful.

After the museum, we drove around town to take in the sites.  Then we headed back to the trailer to relax.  We found a nice fixer upper that you can buy and a "great horned pickup."

Buy this fixer upper

Great Horned Pickup

Buying a new Jeep

 Yesterday, I decided that the best solution to buy a new Jeep.  I had to get the Old Jeep to the dealer in Carson City that is about 240 miles away in order to make a deal.

 I called Cal/Nevada towing and they said, "No problem, we can hook you right up, and it will cost $1800 for the tow."  Yikes.  Tonopah does not have a lot of options...they don't even have Uber.  I heard via local grape vine that there was some guy named Tom Adams that gives people rides for a fee.  I called him up and he came over to take a look.  Upon arrival, he said he could load that Jeep up onto his flat bed tow rig and tow me to Carson for $600 cash.  

 Tom is a rough red neck sort of guy that is partly disabled, and volunteers for the local "Search and Rescue" outfit as an equipment hauler and communications coordinator.  He wears a gun and likes to tell everyone that he wears a gun.  He asked me if I would be upset because He wears a gun (he was not offering to take it off and leave it behind.). I told him that it would not bother me and that I packed a gun too, concealed.  He had not noticed...ha.  He said he does not like to carry concealed.  All of the above took place yesterday late afternoon.

 Friday morning at 7 AM, Tom showed up with his fancy Nissan pickup truck and a stout custom rigged flatbed trailer with winch and ramps.  He loaded up the Jeep and we took off for Carson City.

 On the way we talked about a lot of stuff and I managed to give him a short version of the Gospel.  But he adamantly said, "Hey, I don't want to talk religion... I've heard all that and seen too much... not interested."   

 We arrived at the dealer at Noon and they had a new Jeep waiting.  It was the only Grand Cherokee in stock that was factory rigged for towing.  Choices, due to the circumstances, were very limited.  Tom unloaded the old Jeep and I spent the next two hours making a deal for the new one.  Soon I was on my way out of town.

 Funny thing.  This new Jeep has all kinds of electronic gizmos.  I still live in the analog world in some respects.  For example, there is no key.  You don't have to unlock the door, just have the "fob" in your pocket and pull the handle.  Get in and push the button.  This lead to immediate issues.  I drove 3 blocks down the very busy 4 lane road to leave Carson City.  When I came to the very first stop light, there was a pile of traffic behind me and the new Jeep just stalled.  I pushed the start button and it was dead.  I fiddled with the fob and tried again.... nothing.  The guy behind me was blowing his horn and flipping fingers.  I could not even find the emergency flasher button, they moved it and disguised it.  Grrrr....  Finally, after about 5 minutes of holding up traffic for two red light cycles, I took my foot off the brake and the car started all by itself.  I didn't even push the button.  I pulled into Wendy's and called the salesman at the dealer to find out what goes.  He laughed with a little embarrassment.  "Oh, I forgot to tell you about that new feature.  It does cause a lot of confusion.  When you stop at a light, the car shuts off and stays off until you take your foot off the brake.... it saves gas."  I said, "Right!  What a bad idea."  He said I could turn the "feature" off by pressing a certain button on the dash that was marked with and "A".  I pushed the button.

 The long drive back to Tonopah went well but the car definitely has a different "feel" to it.  It is a little bigger inside than our old Jeep so that is nice.  I will miss the diesel engine a lot..... that old Jeep was my baby and I hated to loose it.  There was just no practical way to get it home.  Every option was too expensive and too complicated.

Marooned in Tonopah

 Got up this morning still stinging from yesterday's incident with the Jeep.  After breakfast, I went out with my little tool bag and started poking around to see if I could find the problem.  

The battery was completely dead so I called up Napa and had them deliver a new one.  In the mean time I pulled the old battery and put it on the charger.  I figured, if this is alternator trouble, we could use two batteries, our portable generator, and charger and just head for home.  We have done that twice before.  But this seemed different.

When the battery arrived, I put it in and it did not help.  The car was still dead and the battery began to discharge pretty rapidly.

I dug out my little "Blue Driver" code scanner and hooked it up.  Strange!  I could not get it to connect as usual to the Jeep.  It reported, "Vehicle is not responding."  That is really odd.  I called up the Cal/Nevada towing place down the street because I heard they had a diesel mechanic and asked them if they would send him to take a look and please bring his fancy "Snap-On" brand scanner.

He arrive and plugged in.  He fiddled and scratched his head for 10 minutes and finally said, "Bad News!  I cannot scan anything.  The Jeeps main computer is not functioning at all...it is dead."  He did not charge me anything.

No Problem... just order a new computer, put it in and go home....right?  Wrong!  I called long distance to two Jeep dealers, one in Carson City, and one is Vegas.  When I read them my VIN numbers, they said, "Sorry, we do not work on THAT model Jeep anymore."  So I called the parts department and they said that the part is not available anymore anywhere in the USA and that it was discontinued.  Then I thought.  Gee, even if I had a new part and put it in, it would not work because my old computer was reprogrammed with custom software.  So a new computer would immediately start throwing serious errors and put the car in "Limp Mode".  The company that furnished the software is out of business so I could not reprogram the computer to match my equipment, and I left my programming equipment at home.  If I had TIME and had the Jeep at home, I could fix it....it would probably take a month but I could fix it.

I spent the day making calls and trying to figure a way to get the Jeep, our Trailer, and US home within a reasonable amount of time and expense.  Remember, there is nothing in Tonopah and the nearest real help is 240 miles away across barren land and remote roads.

I finally decided that the best answer was to trade the Jeep in and buy another one...a new one.  I called the dealer in Carson City and came up with a workable deal over the phone, but I would have to get the Jeep there and I would have to come tomorrow.

Busted on ET Power Trail

That's right.  Today we broke down in the remote desert.  Here is the story.

We got up and had breakfast as usual, the day was beautiful and we were eager to hit the road geocaching.  We drove the 45 miles to the first cache on Highway 6 near Warm Springs, NV.  Our first cache was to be #851 in the ET Power Trail.  The Jeep was running fine and we were making great progress.  

Shortly after noon, we reached #941 where the cache trail leaves the highway and heads out down a dirt road into the remote desert.  When I say remote, I mean there is nothing as far as the eye can see in all directions.  It was a dirt road, not a two rut trail.

We continued down the road and found ET-#1000.  This was one of our goals for the trip.  Yea!!  That means we were half way through the ET Power Trail.  We continued on until we got to number #1017, and then it happened.

Susie got out to grab the geocache and the Jeep just quit.... totally dead.  I could not even get a click out of it.  It was about 3:15.  I tinkered for about 20 minutes trying different things including my little emergency battery.  Nothing worked.  I grabbed the phone to call a tow truck.... no service.  I walked around the Jeep a little and got some bars, but still no service.  Apparently SmartTalk does not work out here.... not smart enough.  I decided to try 911 because it will work when nothing else will.  On the 2nd try, I finally got a 911 operator although it was a bad connection.

I first had to answer 20 questions and then I tried to explain our situation.  "You are where??" she said!  I gave here GPS coordinates and also directions.  She said "How can we help you."  I ask for the number of a couple of tow companies.  She said we probably could not make calls from out there but she could patch me through to a company.  After a short, confusing, 3 way conversation, I got through to a woman at the tow company.

20 questions again.  She said she could send a truck but, "Where did you say your are?"  I gave her directions several times until she got it right.  She seemed a little doubtful, like maybe this was a prank call or something.  Finally she said she would send someone right out but it might be 2 hours.  We waited.

About an hour latter, I saw a big truck coming.....too early for the tow truck, I thought.  It WAS the tow truck.  He pulled up in front of us and the driver got out of the cab.  A young man in his early 20's.  I told him we were so glad to see him and surprised he got here so fast.  Then he confessed...  "Well I did hurry, BUT, I forgot to get fuel and I don't think I have enough to get back."  DOH!!!! I told him that I had 5 gallons of diesel in the back of my Jeep...would that help.  He was amazed.  What is the chance of that.  He just couldn't get over it.  I explained that my Jeep is a diesel and that I brought the extra fuel due to the remote roads on our trip.  He said that he did not know that Jeep made a diesel.

We poured in the fuel, loaded the Jeep onto his truck and then made tracks for the campground.  It was about 47 miles.  We were way out there.

On the hook

On the way back we talked to Zack, the driver,  about the Lord.  He was somewhat interested but played the religion card since he was from a Mormon background.  We explained salvation to him best we could as he drove.  I explained the difference between Ephesian 2:8,9 as compared to 2 Nephi 25:23 in the Book of Mormon.  The Book of Mormon says you are saved by grace AFTER the best you can do.  Ephesians 2:8,9 says you are saved by Grace and it is the GIFT of God, not of works.  Quite a difference. 

We arrived by at camp and he unloaded the Jeep in front of our trailer.  I paid the bill, $269.00 and gave him a big tip.  He tried not to take it but I insisted.

Tomorrow, I'll dig into the Jeep.  This may bring our geocaching trip to a conclusion....we will see.