Baker, California, United States (Google Maps ⧉, OpenStreetMap ⧉)

"On the tenth day of October at quarter past four in the afternoon with a dry hot wind blowing through the passes Maria found herself in Baker."

"When that failed she imagined herself driving, conceived audacious lane changes, strategic shifts of gear, the Hollywood to the San Bernardino and straight on out, past Barstow, past Baker, driving straight on into the hard white empty core of the world."