Only 8 miles from center strip. It is huge, 14,000 acres, but including the bombing ranges it grows to 5,000 square miles. It started out as the Las Vegas Army Airfield in 1941, to train pilots for WWI, mainly P51 (Mustang) fighter pilots. It was renamed Nellis after W.H Nellis, a renowned fighter pilot with 70 aerial combat missions, before he too was killed in combat. Interestingly he was from Searchlight about an hour south by car. Even more interesting is the fact that the late federal senator Harry Reid also was from that town. http://www.nps.org

We do our fighting right here. We fight for our local artists by donating this expensive space. The artist this month is a well regarded writer. His three books are: Nevada a Strange State. I like it a lot. It is filled with short vignettes, and many drawings about all that was and is odd about this state. Silveropolis is another good one. The largest silver strike, larger than Virginia City, and then forgotten. and finally, The Great Lake Mead Water Caper. A very interesting story.