Heading east outside Los Angeles, the traveler crosses a stretch of soulless country that at one time must have been pristine dry scrub and wash, a low desert, now stripped of all its dignity. Where once salt pans, mineral washes, sediments, hardy mesquite, and cleverly adapted animal life coexisted in rough harmony, now used car lots, fast food establishments, nail and tattoo parlors, hastily erected tract housing, and highways all bake together in the shimmering…
