Mojave, California

Mojave, California

Coordinates: 35 3 N 118 10W

Population: 3,836 (2000 est.)

Here in the United States, most eyes are on New Hampshire today, as Democrats and Republicans head to the polls to decide their Party’s candidate for the 2008 presidential race. Further South in New York however, where it’s currently a very sunny 59 degrees Fahrenheit, I find my mind has wandered out west, to Mojave, California. Were you to drive north along Route 14 from Los Angeles, you would likely notice a large airplane graveyard just outside of this little desert town on the southeastern side of Tehachapi Pass. In addition to its proximity to Edwards Air Force Base, a military test facility, the low humidity and infrequent rainfall of the high desert make Mojave an ideal long-term storage site for older or defunct jets. In fact, entire fleets of planes occasionally appear on this otherwise drab and barren landscape, silently waiting to be disassembled for scrap.

Ben Keene is the editor of Oxford Atlas of the World. Check out some of his previous places of the week.