Desert Rat Rants: “Rants from the Hill” by Michael Branch

*Note from the curator- UNR professor, Michael Branch, writes a monthly blog “Rants from the Hill” for High Country News. He has graciously allowed us to reprint some of his desert rat ravings on the RWC website! He’s hilarious and well worth the read.

Take a quick look of the first few paragraphs from this post “How many bars in your cell?” and follow the link at the end to read the rest of the post on the High Country News Website.

How many bars in your cell?

By Michael Branch

The rural pocket of Silver Hills where we live is so remote as to be virtually uninhabited, though I am delighted to be among the virtual uninhabitants here. This status comes with some logistical challenges, though: roads that are often impassable, the real threat of wildfire, long response times for emergency services, and the constant risk that a tragic miscalculation might cause a guy to run out of beer during the World Series. The most interesting liability of our isolation, however, is that the cell phone companies aren’t sure if we exist.

Their coverage map for our area looks like a Great Basin gopher snake: a long, slim, sinuous band of human contact wriggling through an ocean of incommunicado wild lands. Out here on the frontier of digital terra incognita we’re on the map, but barely. This liminal status has never bothered me, and since our move out to this big country I’ve missed almost nothing I’ve lost and have treasured nearly everything I’ve gained. When I’m asked why I’ve chosen to live “in the middle of nowhere,” I’m reminded that, from my point of view, I have the privilege of living in the middle of everywhere….Click HERE to read more!!!