I own a rental in High Desert area (Victorville) of Southern California.

I thought I was so worldly until I hit the entrenched drug dealers in the CA desert.

You are highly underestimating W's ability to have f*cked this country up (though pretty impressive for a drunken military deserter)...

I can make an apple pie instead of a peach pie, I'll have a desert for dinner, but since apples are cheaper than peaches, it is the best economic choice to enjoy a similar experience with apple pie. 

I've never been to ABQ but I'm a fan of the desert South West in general, and ABQ is a lot cheaper than California, Nevada, Arizona, Colorado, Utah.

Everyone seems to think there's all this vacant desert for Vegas to expand into (sort of like Phoenix to the west) but much of the land around Vegas is BLM owned or even conserved and cannot be developed so getting additional BLM land released for auction to develop is a slow process. 

Let's hope the pending correction happens sooner than later because it's like a desert out there for deals!

You have to know YOUR reason for wanting earthquake.I sell earthquake insurance at AAA here's what I have seen:- the closer you are to the fault line (Los Angeles/Northridge area, Palm Desert), the less likely people buy earthquake insurance because the cost is prohibitive unless they have large amount of equity in the house... or unless they are close or in retirement age- the further South you live: San Diego, Mission Viejo, San Juan Capistrano, the cheaper the earthquake CEA policy is. 

Grass isn't common so yard maintenance is super easy - "mature desert landscape" means dirt, rocks, and maybe some desert plants.4.

Given that neither are motivated by guilt or threat of no desert, look for motivating factors that escalate compliance.