I need to confess to having MDCS. I forget who coined the term but it fits. You could call me an Area 51 foamer. RR joke.

Area 51 trip report part (A) 05-19-09 and (B) 10-19-09. I'll mention my nickname Murphy now. Part (A) was to see Project Shoal, Silverbow and A51 and more. Shoal was kind of anticlimactic. Accessed Silverbow via the stealthy way in, not the main road with the missile. Had all the road sensor frequencies programmed in a scanner but only heard a lot of data burst and random noise and couldn't detect sensors. Aerostar made it to Silverbow then on to a barbed wire gate. Tried to go up Brainwash Butte but 100' is as far as we could go. Getting late, cold and hungry we headed to the "Inn". Asked about a room but no joy. Holliday week so I pitched a tent nearby for a few days. We were presented with copious amounts of wind and rain so the photovoltaic panels were dead weight. Used van engine to charge batteries and when gas got low we headed to Ash Springs for fuel and a surprise. The old mule AKA van was having its' FORD moments. Stands for first on race day or found on roadway dead difficulties when I tried to go in reverse the shift cable broke. What luck. Stranded in paradise, but with a phone. So glad I have AAA. Drug me, kid and van to a Las Vegas U-Haul place. Hook and book, we're north bound and down. Stopped at the place with the tall alien in front for souvenirs then to GLR at dusk for a rest. Noticed maybe 20 vehicles jet by and stop at the mail box. Looking and pointing, I know what their there for. By now it has been a very long day and I was feeling a bit thick. On to the "Inn" watering hole. Let me apologize now for what follows. I am very self conscience and agoraphobic so when I opened the door there was a WHOLE roof FULL of PEOPLE. Argh. Naturally now being the center of attention I knocked some books down by the door and was looking for a familiar face to explain why I was there. I must have been kind of shouting and someone asked me to leave. The kitchen was not far enough away and was asked to leave less gently. So finally on the back porch I returned the gas can to TC or TJ. Don't remember name but he was cool. I still don't know what the lecture was about but must have been interesting. Wagons ho, U-Haul with mobile command post base camp are off to Cedar Pipeline Gate Ranch for a few days. I love ghost towns. The incessant wind was no problem camping in the U-Haul box. I'm all about collecting data and was rewarded with one call from Groom tower. The AirNav radar box was spectacular. There was no other radio traffic or airplane sounds. Rain and wind were abundant.

Now with new shift cable, vacuum hoses and a new distributor we're East bound and down again. What is with Tioga?

Trip report part (B). 10-19-09. Snow on Tioga only delayed us for a couple of days. My purpose of wanting to go to A51 around a new moon is that IF something is tested, I'll catch it. Right place at the right time. I'm still trying. First night at CPGR was very mild. Traffic on CPG road consisted of a couple of 18 wheeler trucks and many other vehicles all during the night. Next day was off to the "Inn' for grubin then to Wilson gate at bombing range 61. Wanted to go to the gate at the West end but turned left at a fork. Not good. Passed several cool rock formations then the path got more interesting. I'm good at straddling and did that a lot. Wound up at the middle gate with a view of zero interest except for the broken surveillance camera. Also noticed one of the van tires was having an issue. There was a small hole in the sidewall. It was a slow leak and only pumped up the tire a couple of times on the way to Alamo for repairs. I've been to a few flags but this is the first time we've seen aircraft fighting. In the Alamo valley we were the only vehicle on the road along with three jets jetting around when one approached from the right, a very cool, loud and low F18 (twin vertical tail) buzzed us heading to power line overlook direction? Also saw the GLR bus on the way back. Getting dark again and heading to CPGR when the wind and rain kicked up. Tail between legs mode took us to the safety of the "Inn" for a night. Did hear a lady pilot getting vectors that night. Next day went to look at the gate by Rachel and another feature. On Geocaching.com someone asked a question about something in the middle of a dirt road N/O Back Gate road. It's the watering system test point for the local cattle ranch water troughs. Back to the "Inn" for some bandwidth to check weather and if Tioga was open. It wasn't. Needed to lag for a few days and the weather in Nevada was not good so we went to our favorite camp spot at Grandview campground. Radar box worked well and heard scanner traffic from Green flag?

I copied these from various AirNav logs
,2009/05/22 19:00:33,2009/05/22 18:45:51,Lockheed C-5B Galaxy (L-5,C5,USA - Air Force,AE057D,US Mil 1,87-0032,,
,2009/06/14 15:44:24,2009/06/04 09:54:16,Boeing C-17A Globemaster III,C17,USA - Air Force,AE1448,US Mil 1,04-4138,,
,2009/06/05 18:25:39,2009/06/05 12:04:36,McDonnell Douglas C-9B Skytrain II (DC-9-32CF),DCC9,USA - Navy,ADFEE3,US Mil 2,159114,,
,2009/06/11 16:28:39,2009/06/05 18:12:41,Aerospatiale SA-341F Gazelle,...,France - Army,ADFE1E,US Mil 2,1718,,
,2009/09/15 18:47:28,2009/09/15 15:49:44,Lockheed U-2S,...,USA - Air Force,AE095E,US Mil 1,80-1083,,

This is a screen shot of Radar Box reception ring.while at Grandview campbround

Here is a list of things to see on our next trip, Keiths ammo box with a scanner in it, Gregos Geocache, caches by Tempiute mine and spend more time with the geiger counter.

What's amazing is the van got 20.3 MPG over 861 miles..

Every spot we stopped at I put out a radon detector and all sites recorded zero.

Last thing we did was to place a Geocache on the road to Wilson gate. The cache name is "Road to Bombing Range 61 / GC206A3". It is just off of GLR and the reviewer said it would be muggled shortly as all the caches have been so grab your GPSr and be the "first to Find".

All my pictures are at: http://www.pbase.com/dalethesnale/area_51

Soon I'll be back, 9thLife.