On a solitary trip last year I was daily reminded that our continent remains mostly empty; you can travel for miles in the Far West without seeing humans or human structures (except roads and railroad tracks) anywhere. When geographers and demographers declare nearly half our population lives near the Atlantic, Pacific and Gulf coasts, believe them. The rest of Americans concentrate in medium and large cities in between, mostly east of the Mississippi River. The image above was created near the middle of the Mojave Desert in June heat, empty of animate life that day except for me and a few burrowing creatures, who scuttled into their tunnels when they sensed my trespass into their world.

Most of Nevada (below) is likewise uninhabited.