Hopkins 4K for Cancer

July 20, 2003

Rachel is out of this world!
Day 49

Panaca, NV to Rachel, NV



The ride today took the group 98 miles from Panaca, Nevada to Rachel, Nevada. The only reprieve from the scorching desert heat and monotonous scenery along the route was a swim in Crystal Spring during the lunch stop at about mile 60. Additionally, today’s ride brought us to the start of the Extraterrestrial Highway just North of the famed Area 51. The road contained four ridges with gradual rises and descents. The first and third ridges were very tedious while the second and fourth were slightly shorter and more tame.



Rachel’s main attraction is a small restaurant called the Little Al'e'Inn, which plays on the Area 51 theme. (See their website at here.) We were planning on camping in the lot there. Unfortunately, most of the group did not get a chance to go into the restaurant itself because it closed early due to an illness in the family of the owners. The employees insisted that they never got a phone call from the group saying we were coming otherwise they would have cooked us a dinner. Instead, though, they gave Babak a discount on his hotel room (which he was going to rent anyway) so that everyone could use the shower. Waiting outside the room for his turn to use the shower Dan saw a scorpion. This made people hesitant to sleep on the ground for fear of having a scorpion climb into their sleeping bag during the night. One of the other rooms was rented by a cook at the Little Al’e’inn. He allowed the group to use his shower and a number of the riders staid there afterwards to watch a movie with him.



We fell asleep gazing at the many stars that littered the desert sky as well as the glow of lights from Area 51 that gave the sky over the mountains to our east a pinkish glow.



Brian Patrick Mason