Transmitting from the Mojave Wilderness in Joshua Tree, California, now is the time for Desert Oracle Radio, the voice of the desert.

Thunderstorms across the desert?

Night has fallen on the Mojave and you can stand outside at night and watch the whole

desert light up.

There's 29 palms.

There's Barstow.

Oh, and look that towering electrical insanity over the New York Mountains in the preserve.

Horizontal lightning on the horizon over the little Sam Bernardinos.

And then, if you're lucky, the downpour.

The temperature drops 30 degrees as cold rain batters the sand and the highway and your rooftop.

I heard a weatherman calling such a thing a microburst,

and I thought, what is wrong with everyone?

Why do you people have to try to ruin everything?

This is a cursed time of year for the desert visitor.

Every August, right on time, people start disappearing.

It happened again last week.

It happens a lot in national parks and national forests.

People just disappear.

As for this current missing couple, of course, it is hoped that they turn up, but seven days in,

you start to wonder, Maybe it was all planned.

You can't blame anybody for wanting to drop all this banal madness, student loans and credit cards,

and car payments, and health insurance premiums.

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