When I was about 21 years old, I drove through Death Valley after leaving Los Angeles own my way back to the east coast on a cross country adventure. We stopped the car in Death Valley to relish in the beauty and silence that this forbidding landscape offers. With a name like Death Valley, you could imagine that there is not much activity there. The silence was deafening and there was a hum in my ears due to my eardrums not receiving any sound waves. You actually are hearing the electrical impulses in your ears because of the lack of sound. I remember thinking to myself, I would like to die and be buried here when it is my time. The peace I felt was like no other. I carry that feeling and memory with me to this day.