Earthlings always welcome to stop by the Little A'Le'Inn
by Timothy R. GaffneyCox News Service
from the Austin (TX) American Statesman
Sunday, April 3, 1994, page C1
RACHEL, Nev.--This tiny sprawl of trailer homes on the vast Nevada desert is an oasis of sorts to the weary traveler. It offers the only gas, food and lodging on the two-lane state highway that runs past it.
The main business here is a roadside bar and grill that offers a pool table, jukebox and a few motel rooms in trailers on the dusty back lot.
Oh, and aliens, too.
Claims that the Air Force is secretly testing flying saucers just across the jagged Groom Mountains from Rachel has brought a growing stream of UFO investigators, curiosity seekers and news media to this town.
UFO tourism has become so important to business that proprietors Joe and Pat Travis have named their place the Little A'Le'Inn. "Earthlings always welcome," proclaims a large sign along the highway.
"When we took it over, it was the Rachel Bar and Grill," Pat Travis explained after serving a Saucer Burger Platter (cheeseburger with the works, fries and coleslaw).
In 1990, they decided to give their establishment a catchier name.
"We needed a name that would cover everything we had," Pat Travis said.
"The UFO activity had started and was escalating. So why not?"
Pictures of aliens, saucers and well-known UFO investigators cover the walls. There's a strange matter-of-factness about it, the saucer photos getting equal play with photos of the F-117 Stealth attack jet and the Air Force Thunderbirds air show team.
The Little A'Le'Inn offers an assortment of mementos--T--shirts that show an alien sipping a cold one, alien coffee cups, alien kitchen magnets.
A small bookshelf offers videotapes and books on various extraterrestrial themes.
You don't have to swear to a belief in extraterrestrials to get service there. "We have to stay totally neutral," Pat Travis said. "Our beliefs are our own."
But, she added, "We do believe there are UFOs. And after that beam of light came through our door, we believe there is something here. We told it to make itself at home. "
That was one night in the winter of 1989, when the outside temperature was
20 below. Without warning, she recounted, a bright light streamed around the edges of the metal door. "It illuminated the whole bar," Pat Travis said.
The Travises don't attempt to draw a line between truth and fantasy. "We've heard all kinds of weird stories," Pat Travis said. "A lady here in town was followed by a craft all the way across the Tikaboo Valley from Alamo." A husband and wife say they were abducted in the valley, she said.
Extraterrestrials notwithstanding, local military training flights ensure exciting aerial displays.
"The airplanes are fantastic out here.... Sometimes they try to tear the building down," Pat Travis said. "But that's OK. Those are my boys up there, learning how to fly--and girls, too. "
Reference: project-ufo.blogspot.com
