We were in Joshua Tree California, on January 19, 2026, staying in a very nice Airbnb on the edge of the Mojave Desert. We had just finished dinner and were relaxing on the couch, planning our next day’s activities. Then it happened. At 5:56 pm the house began to shake, then sway. Almost immediately we knew what it was, an earthquake. It was a strong one, 5.1, although the USGS moved the magnitude to 4.9 a few hours later. Aftershocks continued, although we didn’t feel them—until 12:30 am when a 4.3 quake was registered. Janet was awakened by that one, not me. There have been 137 earthquakes in Joshua Tree over the last seven days (1.5 or greater). The photos below include the house we rented, the Kelso Sand Dunes not far from Joshua Tree, and two rock formations, including residual boulders.

Joshua Tree, as noted above, is located adjacent to the Mojave National Preserve (desert), thus making it loaded with cool things to see. The two-lane highways that roll in, out, and around Joshua Tree are full of bends, twists, steep up slope or down (more than 7%), and a landscape full of muted colors, boulders stacked on boulders, and a lot of open space. To the south, just before the intersection with I-10, is the Coachella Valley, one of our planet’s best natural wind tunnels. There lies an amazing array of wind turbines which together form a very interesting-looking windfield, one that stretches many miles. The valley is 45 miles long.

While flying out to Nevada and California, we spent a short time in the Las Vegas (Harry Reid) airport. We’ve flown into and through Harry Reid many times, and usually the place is packed with people either excited to be arriving so that they can see shows and gamble or sad to be departing in part because they have lost a lot of money. Harry Reid takes on a pall of desperation at times, one that always makes me feel uncomfortable. This time it was different. I was shocked to observe the lack of human traffic. Tariffs, the sense from this administration that visitors are not wanted, and the threat to make Canada the 51^st state, by force, have combined to reduce the number of foreign visitors to Las Vegas, thus the scenes at the airport at 2 pm on a Friday.