I have the opportunity to take a trip out to Rachel yesterday, I'm in Vegas from some training for the fire department on responding to radioactive incidents. It was sponsored by NNSS. We didn't get to go out and use the T1 training facility as I had hoped, but that's ok. Good training none the less. You may not know this but I live about 90 miles due north of Hanford. So there is always the possibility of something radioactive happening. Plus we have like 8 Datacenters in our little town and setting off an EMP could really set our internet back a little. Of course, there are backup sites to the backup sites and backups of the main sites.

Anyways yesterday our training day was cut short due to the main instructor falling ill and so we had the opportunity to getaway. We were offered passes to the Atomic Museum which I have gone to in the past so I decided to go alone up to Racheal and visit the Gate.

I know I have no reason to be nervous about going there, it just seems a little intimidating, knowing you're being watched.

There was a guard standing outside which I thought they always hide from people. Maybe he was on a smoke break. At the gate was also this guy and his wife from Japan that spoke better English than I do. He was from a small tiny fishing village in Japan and this trip was his very first trip out of Japan. His wife wanted to visit Las Vegas so they had saved for a few years to afford to go. He wanted to visit Area 51 or at least the gate.

As we were walking back to our rentals He says to me. "You know there are many countries that fear the US. They fear the power that we can unleash. And after seeing all these different parks with military jets resting on poles he can see why. The US has such an excess of planes they have to park them in a park." I thought his statement was pretty funny.

I hope I didn't kick up too much dust driving past the houses in Racheal. I try to be respectful and drive slow. I did not waste my time or money going into the Lil Ale'inn. The drive up always reminded me how dull and beautiful the drive through the desert can be. I used to live in Trona. I think that is the closest I had ever been to the middle of nowhere.