If you drive west in the evening through the desert, through Arizona and
straight to California, you’ll be chasing the sun. Heat waves shake the
rocky outcrops that jut upward like fingers reaching toward the
heavens. As you move west, the sun paces with you, and for a long while
the sun holds its place low in the sky, wobbling after a long day’s
work. You think nighttime is minutes away, only to find an hour, two
hours, have passed, and the sun has held its place. So you take your
eyes off the road for just a moment to change the radio station--and
it’s gone. The sun has fallen; night has overcome the desert.
