Long time user (Yes I'm aware there are at least 600 people with accounts older than mine), rarely post, but wanted to just say thanks for the site over the years.

Be well and if you're ever in downtown Ann Arbor, swing by the library and say hi.

Asking Google for Racktrack Playa (mentioned in the story) will net you a Wikipedia entry, which has these fun coordinates at the upper right of the page. Click on that, and you'll get a page of links opening that location in various mapping websites and applications including Google Earth.

Or you could just go to 36.68N, 117.56W

The resolution in Google Earth for that location isn't remotely close to being useful for answering this puzzle.