Rachel, Nevada
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Rachel is an unincorporated portion of Lincoln County, Nevada. As the closest habitation to the Nellis Air Force Range and Area 51, Rachel enjoys a modest celebrity, particularly among aviation enthusiasts and UFO hunters.
The town lies approxomately three hours drive north of Las Vegas along Nevada Highway 375 (the "Extraterrestrial Highway"), which has an unofficial "speed limit" of Warp 7. The tiny town receives a modest number of visitors interested in the U.S. government's secret doings to the west, to whom a small tourist shop and an alien-themed bar cater, the Little A'Le'Inn.
Rachel has 98 inhabitants, almost all involved in ranching. The town was originally established as a tungsten mining town, but the mines pulled out circa 1988. Most of the year-round inhabitants live in mobile homes.
In 2006 KFC created a giant company logo on the ground at the north edge of Rachel and claimed it to be the first logo visible from space. "[It] marked the official debut of a massive global re-image campaign that will contemporize 14,000-plus KFC restaurants in over 80 countries over the next few years."[1] Constructed in early November, it took six days on site to assemble its 65,000 colored tiles on 87,500 square feet (0.812 ha) of flat desert terrain. The logo also had a hidden message on the tie area of the logo that featured an impostor colonel holding a sign over his head, reading "Finger Lickin Good."
[edit] External links
- Official site
- "The Closest Town to Area 51"
- Rachel, Nevada — 1997 documentary by Jessica Landaw and David Dawes.
- Rachel Lies Dreaming — a short film by visual artist Mark Hatter, portraying the town of Rachel, Nevada
- Maps and aerial photos
- Street map from Google Maps, or Yahoo! Maps, or Windows Live Local
- Satellite image from Google Maps, Windows Live Local, WikiMapia
- Topographic map from TopoZone
- Aerial image or topographic map from TerraServer-USA
