Flight path

To doubters and detractors it's just Nevada Highway 375 - the 160km blacktop connecting Alamo and Rachel, flanked by desert and notable for nothing. To believers, it's the Extraterrestrial Highway, as the state governor renamed the stretch in 1996, magnifying interest whipped up by the sci-fi film Independence Day.

The ET Highway, which sports a sign posting its speed limit as 'warp 7', takes you within range of a top-secret attraction recreated in the movie: Dreamland (also known as Area 51). Officially, the hi-tech military base doesn't exist. But its existence is as plain as a Jericho tree.

Dreamland first captured the public imagination in 1989 when a man named Bob Lazar went on TV claiming he'd worked near Dreamland on nine crashed flying saucers to resolve how they used so-called element 115 - a super-heavy substance not found on Earth - in their propulsion system.

Today, there's still debate about whether Lazar really worked at Dreamland, but the fascination he fostered looks unlikely to fade.

If you venture out along the highway, remember to take about five litres of water, a map of the area, sunscreen and sunglasses. But avoid driving too close to Dreamland because of the day and night security patrols in the form of white Cherokee jeeps.

Binoculars may not be necessary because the night sky is so clear that you can see your shadow from the light of the Milky Way.