Most people associate the word “rural” with farms and bales of hay. I can suggest an association you may not have expected. Ridgecrest, where I’ve lived for the last 14 years, is a town of 28,000 in the Mojave Desert of California, a city that doesn’t produce crops but is home to a U.S. Navy base where the enlisted and Department of Defense (DoD) employees work on classified research and development projects, test planes (the weather is especially good for that), and develop technologies for soldiers. Ridgecrest is definitely rural both in how its people view the rest of the world and in its remoteness from services. The closest towns, with abundant medical services and shopping (Lancaster, CA, and Palmdale, CA), are 140 miles away roundtrip.