Nevada
Campsite 9, April 9 - We had chosen a place to camp by mid-afternoon. The location was quiet and had a wide view across a pretty valley.
We could see snow capped mountains to the south. This was a great camp site. We hadn’t seen anyone else camping for miles. Actually, we had joked about the lack of traffic on the road. We had called it the “Tourist Highway” as we had only seen fifth-wheels and Sprinter Van since the last town.
We set up camp and sat around taking in the view. Just before dusk we heard a sound we could not identify. We looked around trying to identify the source and spotted two crows flying along the rock outcropping.
This place was so quiet we could hear the flapping of their wings. As we finished dinner, we noticed a sun dog peaking over a hill then disappearing with the setting sun.
We huddled over the campfire discussing the day and our plans for tomorrow as the night grew colder.
When it was too cold and we had nothing else to say, we brushed our teeth made a final trip behind a rock, then zipped up the tent. As we snuggled into our sleeping bags, we could hear the world around us awakening for a night of hunting.
At first it was just an annoying sensation of movement that disturbed my sleep. As I rolled away, the movement returned. I pushed farther away but the movement turned into thrashing and I switched on the light and sat up.
“What are you doing?” I turned to look at a set of feet where a face should have been. I heard a muffled response! As I unzipped the sleeping bag, I questioned how anyone could get turned upside down in a zipped-up sleeping bag.
Freed from the bag, we giggled at the absurdity. As we settled down to sleep again, we heard a loud flapping. It was only the tent’s guy-lines.
In the morning, as we drank coffee and ate yogurt, I teased about sleepwalking but the mechanics of getting in a zipped-up sleeping bag without waking me seemed off.
Soon we were packing up camp to head down the road. As we approached a small settlement we saw a sign, “Extraterrestrial Highway.”
We had camped next to Area 51!
This is a work of fiction from actual events that happened during our travels.