It must be hard to live in the Mojave Desert

The desert is a strange place. Los Angeles is full of green forests and blue seas. But if you drive a few hours northeast of here, you will find yourself in the Mojave Desert, where there’s nothing but yellow sand and rocky mountains – and a few small towns. Normally the only time I drive through the desert is to go to Las Vegas, which is about 370 kilometers from LA. But last week I decided to take some of the small roads off the freeway into the desert just to see what I would find. It was a very strange experience.

There are a few small cities between LA and Vegas, like Barstow and Baker, where drivers stop to buy food and gas. But most of the cities that developed there during the Gold Rush of the mid-1800s are now ghost towns. The strangest place I went to was a town called Daggett, which was once a busy city and home to a silver mine. All that's left there now are dusty roads, a few trailer homes and a cemetery full of white crosses.

I did see some small communities in the desert where people live in trailer homes and have junk yards with bits of old cars. Most of the buildings, signs - and even the people - look weather-beaten. It must be hard to live somewhere where the weather is so hot and dry. I can't imagine living in the middle of the desert. Can you?