Or as we like to call it.. The Twilight Zone.

Fernley, Nevada. A wide spot on I-80, east of Reno and west of a whole lot of nothing. 35.4 square miles (91.7 km²) with between 12,000 and 13,000 people living there. There are thousands of towns like this in the US and Canada, rest stops on the major highways or slowly dying remnants of a bygone era. I've never heard of 99% of them, including Fernley.. until about a week ago.

That's when kevin_standlee and travelswithkuma announced that they might be buying a house there due to a long dramatic series of events. Then kshandra mentioned that she had stopped to eat there after the end of one Burning Man. I could accept this, Kiri does drive out that way for the event, and the reason for the move made sense when explained. But today? Today things got weird

This morning I got links from several of the news organizations I follow on Twitter about a hate crime committed against a Native American family by some skinheads in Fernley. Then I'm checking the shipping on an Amazon shipment and here's the only status update: Fernley NV Shipment has left seller facility and is in transit - July 5, 2011 12:29:43 PM

Is this a message? Am I being summoned? If I go will I meet a bunch of people who were drawn to the site by aliens? I am seriously expecting tonight's Countdown to end with "Good night, and Fernley Nevada!"