Giusti's

Giusti's is at the confluence of the Mokelumne River and Snodgrass Slough. You can get there by boat or by car. The interior is dark, the walls wooden, the air cool, and the diners loud, because they are having fun.
"Is the catfish good?"
"It's good if you like catfish. I don't eat catfish."
"We'll both take catfish."
The salad came in a small bowl with long salad servers. The dressing was 1000 Island. The table top was a map of the Delta's myriad islands.
"How's your daughter doing?"
"She was in Trinity, where that helicopter went down. I was panicked. Then she moved. The problem is, she breathed all that stuff. They had to give her prednisone."
"It's my birthday."
"Happy birthday."
"Yeah, a typical male. Sorry ..."
The long and narrow building forms an elbow, with bar for biceps and restaurant for forearm.
The owner went by with boxes on a dolly (you can tell him from the photos on the wall). He does the stocking.
They take cash, ATM, or check. No credit cards.
"I've got to go to work."
"Lucky you have a job."
Outside is a patio with tables and chairs, overlooking the Slough.
"You look confused ... or inquisitive."
"Both."

Isleton

Isleton is a movie set. No, Isleton is two movie sets. One is the Downtown Historical District, most of it built after a devastation fire in 1926. You could take its row of stores, on either side of the street, and do a search and replace for any town in a B-Western Hopalong. The only question is, did Isleton make Hollywood, or vice versa. The right answer is, of course, they made each other.

The other is just out of town, to the north, first a full set, then a half set, not yet finished, waiting for actors.

KOA in Victorville

The KOA in Victorville is actually a town unto itself. It is near the intersection of I-15 going to Las Vegas and Highway 18 arriving from Yucca Valley. Some RVs live here permanently, some are sometimes mobile, some are forever mobile. A paved road goes past "Outer Drive" to the gravels of the Mojave River, whose waters sink into the Mojave Desert. From rocks on a nearby hill shots ring out, and far away a freight train whistles by. It's as lonesome as it can be.

A California Trinity

Randsburg, Johannesburg, and Red Mountain make up a Ghost Town Trinity. (Red Mountain is the holiest one.) By their signs you will know them.

Elvis Christ

Elvis and Christ can both be seen in Ridgecrest, off Highway 395, on the corner of West Ridgecrest Blvd., 300 block, and South Warner Street, 100 block. They are there, side by side, unifying forces for an Art Attack. There they are, on the wall of an opaque stucco building with dark paper over the window and a locked door.

Pittsburgh Plate Glass Company

South of Lone Pine, on the shores of dusty Owens Lake, are the remains of a Pittsburgh Plate Glass plant. The caretakers live in the Administration Building, and they are happy to receive visitors. In fact, the ruins are so picturesque that photographers come regularly from everywhere, including from the prestigious Brooks Institute in Santa Barbara. If no one is there to let you in the imposing fence, just walk around to the east side, where no fence exists, and old rundown mobile homes add a nostalgic aroma to the deserted air. The plant is in Inyo County, and "Inyo” means Dwelling Place of the Great Spirit.