Desert Isolation, Self-Discovery

August 1, 2020,

For some of us, it is a place to be completely avoided. At all costs.

It is dry and unforgiving.

Isolated too.

You can feel the absence of life all around you. By contrast, you know it is filled with animals and bugs that sting and bite.

Many of us want no part of the desert.

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When we travel through it, we rent the best running rental car that we can find, confident it will never break down because if it does, we’re in deep sand. That’s not good.

“I like the desert for short periods of time, from inside a car, with the windows rolled up, and the doors locked. I prefer beach resorts with room service.”… Anne Lamott

There always seems to be buzzards flying overhead.

It is a barren area of landscape where little precipitation occurs and, consequently, living conditions are hostile for plant and animal life.

Sometimes humans too.

Especially if you breakdown or get lost.

And you shouldn’t get lost because why in the world are you hiking out there anyway?

About one-third of the land surface of the world is arid or semi-arid. This includes much of the polar regions, where little precipitation occurs, and which are sometimes called polar deserts or "cold deserts".

Here we’re talking about the hot deserts.

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Plants and animals living in the desert need special adaptations to survive in the harsh environment.

Plants tend to be tough and wiry with small or no leaves, water-resistant cuticles, and often spines to deter herbivory. Some annual plants germinate, bloom and die in the course of a few weeks after rainfall, while other long-lived plants survive for years and have deep root systems able to tap underground moisture.

Animals need to keep cool and find enough food and water to survive.

Humans too.

People have struggled to live in deserts and the surrounding semi-arid lands for millennia. Nomads have moved their flocks and herds to wherever grazing is available, and oases have provided opportunities for a more settled way of life.

Sand and dust storms are natural events that occur in arid regions where the land is not protected by a covering of vegetation. Dust storms usually start in desert margins rather than the deserts themselves where the finer materials have already been blown away.

So why do so many people like the desert?

There are 23 of them.

With all of this land mass where there are water and trees, living in the desert is mostly voluntary, especially in the internet world where you can make a living while you travel around in camper vans and park by the ocean, lake or river.

There are a number of reasons why people live in the desert.

“Everyone should just drive out to the Mojave Desert and just experience it, and it's a fun place to live.”…Bill Burr

Water can be piped in. Like the city of Las Vegas knows all too well.

If you love the sun, the desert gets at least 300 days of sunshine a year.

We love sunshine 300 days out of the year, just not the sand.

It does run deeper than that.

The desert is a place to escape. Who you are. Who you were.

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At Psychology Today they surmise, “The desert is an escape hatch for all of us. Who hasn't just wanted to get away and start over? In the desert, you can do that every day. Then there's the fact that many a desert resident is unwanted elsewhere or just doesn't fit in. The desert doesn't care who you are or what you do.”

We second that.

Is that why there are 23,000 people living in Barstow, California, smack dab in the desert?

Barstow is a city in San Bernardino County, California.

Barstow is located 67 miles north of San Bernardino.

Barstow is a major transportation hub for the Inland Empire.

Several major highways including Interstate 15, Interstate 40, and California State Route 58 converge in the city. It is the site of a large rail classification yard, belonging to the BNSF Railway.

A friend in our circle used to drive from San Francisco to Texas and he would always pass through Barstow. As he drove through, he often wondered why residents were there, of all places.

Barstow City Council has a dedicated film office, which acts as a point of liaison and resources for film locations, equipment and accommodation for filmmakers and their crews.

A number of notable motion pictures were shot in the city, including Broken Arrow, Courage Under Fire, From Dusk till Dawn, Gattaca, Erin Brockovich, and Kill Bill: Volume 2.

A television series that seems to be the epitome of people trying to lose who they were in search of who they greatly desire to be is Death Valley Days.

Death Valley Days is an American old-time radio and television anthology series featuring true accounts of the American Old West, particularly the Death Valley country of southeastern California.

Created in 1930 by Ruth Woodman, the program was broadcast on radio until 1945. From 1952 to 1970, it became a syndicated television series, with reruns continuing through August 1, 1975.

Speaking about the power of the desert, the radio and television versions combined to make the show "one of the longest-running Western programs in broadcast history.

Fascinating Western stories and legends based, and filmed, in and around Death Valley.

So many of the stories were about starting over and treks to new beginnings.

For some of us, navigating through a global pandemic is a brutal time period where we have to start over and trek to new beginnings.

Will those new beginnings start in the desert?

Do we need to escape expectations by others unfilled in the land of water, trees, concrete and mansions repossessed?

In the desert, few know who you are and even fewer seek you out.

Well, as the expression goes, can you find yourself?

Your new self?

If you recreate your new self, do you come back to tree lined streets and backyards filled with swimming pools or do you stay on the sand?

Our thinking is, if we find re-invent ourselves in the desert, we’ll stay there.