Rachel, Nevada
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The first time Fontella “Faun” Day believes she saw life from another planet, it came from above.

It was a cloudy afternoon in Rachel, Nevada, and the phones and computers at the Alien Cowpoke gas station and mini mart where she works had been glitching for hours.

When Day finished her shift, she stepped outside for the short drive back to her home in the middle of the Mojave Desert. That’s when she saw it: Up in the sky, a peculiar cloud formation that looked remarkably like a flying saucer.

Her heart was pounding. She blinked to make sure she wasn’t hallucinating. Even after she rubbed her eyes, the shape was still there, she says, hovering right above her. Something inside of her told her to grab her cell phone and snap some pictures. Today those images — and the eerie, vivid memory of that moment — are all she has from what she considers an otherworldly encounter.

“It was just a weird, weird day,” she said. “(People) say the reason (alien spaceships are in) that shape is because of the frequency of the ship. That’s how they hide behind the clouds, I guess.”

Day’s story is one of hundreds found along the Extraterrestrial Highway, a 140-mile ribbon of road in south central Nevada, just outside Las Vegas.

The roadway, which runs through one of the darkest and most desolate stretches of the continental United States, is famous for alien encounters: Since the 1950s, there have been more reports of UFO sightings here than anywhere in the country.

Skeptics say these “UFOs” are probably just super stealth aircraft from the nearby Nellis Air Force Base.

Ufologists, those people who believe in aliens, have a different explanation for why this stretch of the Great Basin Desert seems to be so popular among beings from the outer corners of the universe.

Many believers cite the region’s proximity to the Nevada Test and Training Range and Area 51 — a top-secret base that the US Central Intelligence Agency didn’t even admit was real until 2013.

Some who have worked at Area 51 claim it is home to alien spacecraft and possibly even a dead alien. Others have linked the site to a 1947 incident near Roswell, New Mexico, that led to conspiracy theories about the government’s role in covering up what some thought was the crash of an alien spaceship.

As Mulder and Scully from “The X Files” would have said, “The truth is out there.” For many, the best way to search for it in the Nevada desert is on an overnight road trip from or to Las Vegas along a stretch of road known as the Extraterrestrial Highway.

Oddities — space and otherwise

If you leave from Las Vegas, the adventure begins by heading north on I-15 past downtown and beyond the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. From here, exit on US Route 93 and continue 85 miles north through the desert toward Ely.

The first part of the drive is notable for its nothingness — nearly 90 minutes of sand, sagebrush, prickly pear and juniper. It’s dry. It’s stark. It’s about 20 different shades of brown, all year long.

Suddenly, outside the small town of Alamo, the spring-fed marshlands of the Pahranagat National Wildlife Refuge appear like an oasis in the desert. There are trees. There is standing water. There’s even wildlife: The area comprises wetland and riparian habitats for thousands of migratory birds and other (terrestrial) critters.

It is the first of many head-scratching sightings along the journey.

The next one comes up quickly at the intersection of US 93 and Nevada State Route 375 in Crystal Springs: A roadside market named E.T. Fresh Jerky.

Murals of bug-eyed aliens across the parking lot from a fake UFO in the sand, welcome visitors to this double-wide trailer renowned for its selection of dried snacks. The leathery flagship “Alien Jerky” isn’t alien meat, but the packaging – with an alien hand and spaceship beaming up cattle – sparks curiosity. Another creative option is “Freeze-Dried Alien Tongues,” a softer candy that mimics the ice cream they eat in space.

Just north on Nevada 375, no more than a quarter mile from the jerky shop, is a road sign announcing the official start of the Extraterrestrial Highway. The sign, with its futuristic letters, sits atop 20-foot poles covered with years’ worth of stickers.

The route received this formal moniker back in 1996, thanks in part to the advocacy of George Harris, a US Army veteran and local entrepreneur.

In the 1960s and 1970s, while Harris served in the Army, he was part of a group tasked with interviewing people who reported alien sightings across the country. In this role he spoke to more than 5,000 people. (The 2009 movie, “The Men Who Stare at Goats,” is loosely based on this group.) He also spent time working inside Area 51.

When he retired from the service, Harris purchased a plot of land just north of where the Extraterrestrial Highway begins. He built a Quonset hut there and opened the Alien Research Center in 2000.

Shortly after opening, Harris added Zork, a 40-foot-tall alien sculpture, out front. The center also has a piece of local alien history: the original Extraterrestrial Highway sign from the 1990s hangs on a wall inside, surrounded by handwritten messages on the wall itself.

Today, it’s more of a gift shop than a research center. Visitors can purchase alien-themed clothing, magnets, hot sauce and more. Harris also sells alien shot glasses and Alien Tequila, a brand he started with some friends in Mexico in 2008. The tequila comes in bottles shaped like alien heads (of course).

Harris, who splits his time between the Mojave and Las Vegas, considers these endeavors his personal tributes to extraterrestrial life.

“I believe in aliens, one hundred fifty bazillion percent,” he said, adding that he has seen things inside Area 51 that lead him to hold this position. “Wherever someone else might stand on the subject, we certainly can’t say we’re the only species in the universe.”

About an hour north of the Alien Research Center is the town of Rachel, the heart of Alien Country.

The town has a sort of extraterrestrial provenance: As the UFO flies, Rachel is the “closest” population center to Area 51. It still takes about an hour on a dirt road to drive to the base, and looky-loos are turned away at the gate. Rachel also is the specific zip code from which the greatest number of the area’s reported UFO sightings have been recorded.

To call Rachel isolated would be an understatement. It is the only civilization in the Sand Springs Valley, a largely undeveloped finger of the Mojave. Turn your head to the left, you see nothing but ochre mountains and sand. Turn your head to the right, you see the same.

Because Rachel is so remote, pretty much all 200 of the cars that travel the Extraterrestrial Highway each day stop at one of two places: the Alien Cowpoke or the Little A’Le’Inn.

Technically, the “Cowpoke,” as locals call it, is a gas station — it’s the only gas for about 50 miles in either direction. A tiny building behind the pumps doubles as a market that sells snacks and handmade alien souvenirs such as magnets, posters, bags and keychains. There’s also a selfie stop out front with haybales and three sculptures of aliens.

This is where Faun Day works, the spot from which she regales visitors with details of her sighting that fateful afternoon. Visitors can marvel at similar yarns down the road at the Little A’Le’Inn, where a model UFO hangs from the hook of a tow truck out front.

While this quirky motel offers 10 barebones overnight accommodations, the real attraction is the restaurant, which serves hot food including a hamburger with special alien sauce. The establishment features a life-size alien mannequin, blow-up aliens, and news clippings about alien sightings over the years. In the bar area, alien faces are taped to the mirror behind the booze.

Perhaps the quirkiest corner of the restaurant at the Little A’Le’Inn is the one loaded with souvenirs. Among the highlights: alien head shot glasses, an alien head cookie jar, and replica Nevada license plates that say 4ALIENS and ET HWY.

From Rachel, the Extraterrestrial Highway continues northwest through some of the most barren and deserted parts of the region. In certain spots, the road stretches into oblivion and looks like a line that someone just scribbled onto the landscape. In other places, dirt roads peel off the highway and disappear into the desert, begging the question: Where the heck do they lead?

The answer: At least two of these rutted roads lead to the perimeter gates of Area 51; curious civilians who drive them are invariably turned away at a military checkpoint, if an MP doesn’t pull you over and confiscate your camera equipment first.

Eventually, Nevada 375 ends at US Route 6, and the Extraterrestrial Highway continues west to Tonopah. Though this former mining town lacks an official dark sky designation from DarkSky International, it’s considered one of the best places in the United States for stargazing — and, by extension, spotting alien spacecraft.

In particular, the Tonopah Stargazing Park, with cement pads for telescopes and tripods, is a great spot to scan the cosmos on a clear night.

Alien fanatics might remember Tonopah from the climactic scenes of the 2011 movie, “Paul,” a Simon Pegg/Nick Frost comedy about an alien who escapes from Area 51. The city also is notable among those who believe in the supernatural; the upscale Mizpah Hotel in the city center is considered one of the most haunted hotels in the country, and the more modest Clown Motel on the outskirts of town sits next to a cemetery that dates to 1907.

Each of these destinations offers a different flavor of weird.

The Mizpah, said to have several different “permanent” residents, embraces its spooky past with nightly ghost tours that include an Electromagnetic Field Reader and dowsing rods — two tools that those who consider themselves ghost-hunters often use to detect the presence of spirits. All guests are encouraged to report any paranormal experiences at check-out. (For the record, hauntings are not guaranteed.)

The Clown Motel, on the other hand, leans more toward creepy. The lobby displays about 800 of the 2,500 clowns that owners Hem and Vijay Mehar have collected over the years, including several that are believed to be possessed by demons. (Don’t worry, those are in a glass case.) Many of the 31 rooms also have dark and sinister themes. There’s a room dedicated to Pennywise, the evil clown from the Stephen King book, “It.” The Chucky room is decorated with wallpaper that features giant images of the murderous doll from the 1988 movie, “Child’s Play.”

The self-described clairvoyant Wonder Crisp (yes, that’s really her name) leads nightly tours through the Clown Motel and the adjacent cemetery, and she characterizes Tonopah as a hotbed of paranormal activity.

On the tour, Crisp boasts that many of the local apparitions have spoken to her for years.

“Spirits and aliens are everywhere around here,” she said after a tour one night. “In order to see them, you just have to believe.”