MOJAVE
Descending from the Tehachipi Pass, we enter the town of Mojave. Right on schedule, we start seeing Joshua trees and creosote bushes, the signature plants of the Mojave desert.

Then we make a sharp left and head north again on Route 14, this time with the Sierra Nevada on our left. It seems counterintuitive to go south in order to go north, but that’s exactly what it takes to visit Death Valley in the winter from the Bay area.

Fortunately, on route 14 we can pull over and use binoculars take a good look at the Mojave Air and Space Port, a fancy name for the Mojave Airport. It features a “graveyard” of old planes. Dozens of commercial passenger and cargo airplanes are parked in the desert. Some have their logos still visible, names I’ve never heard of (Southern Air, Atlas Air) along with familiar names like Delta and KLM. There are many giant 747s clumped together like brooding animals. Some of them are painted completely white, like strange ghost 747s.

Mojave is also home to SpaceShip One, an experimental rocket-powered aircraft being developed by Burt Rutan and Paul Allen. But we see only a big sign advertising it.

We zoom up the two-lane pitted road that is route 14 and pass the turnoff to California City, California.