Hiko, Nev. (AP) – Military jets roared overhead in the blue Nevada sky as Rusty Satterwhite, from Twin Falls, Idaho, chatted with his new camping neighbor, Chuck Bench of White City, Oregon.
Bench, a 72-year-old Vietnam War-era U.S. Air Force veteran, said he came to the “Alienstock” event in Rachel to find meaning in life.
Maybe it’s over those hills, laughed Satterwhite, a 45-year-old automation engineer.
The two found free space easy to find on federal Bureau of Land Management property across state Highway 375 from the Little A’Le’Inn – and within sight of a makeshift stage being set up for music to begin after dark.
Neither man said he had any intention of running toward any gate to the once-secret Area 51 military base somewhere over the picturesque mountains.
After hearing that the Federal Aviation Administration closed airspace in the area, Satterwhite said he’d keep his remote-controlled drone aircraft on the ground.
He also brought his GoPro camera, he said.
