Daniels plans to return on New Year's Eve to take Y2K reports from around the globe.
"I like the fact that you can have people who have never met or never will meet and they have this little intersection," he said. "Two people who have no business talking to one another."
Surprised to Get an Answer
Since most callers don't expect an answer, they gasp when a visitor actually picks up, many quickly hanging up like teenage telephone pranksters.
One call answered by a reporter came from 17-year-old Jan Spuehamer of Hamburg, Germany. "This is costing me a lot of money, but I think it is very funny," Spuehamer said. "One magazine article said you have to be very lucky to have someone pick up this line. Because this is the loneliest phone in the world, no?"
And so people keep calling the Mojave Phone Booth. And visiting.
On a drive home from Las Vegas, Wade Burrows and Brian Burkland impulsively decided to visit the booth. They walked around for 10 minutes scratching their heads, finally leaving behind their own memento: a car license plate they both autographed.
Said the 21-year-old Burkland: "Dude, this is, like, so cool!"
Then Burrows, a San Bernardino pizza deliveryman, placed a call from his favorite desert phone booth.
"Hey, Mom," he said, holding a cigarette burned down to the filter. "You'll never guess where I'm calling from--a phone booth in the middle of nowhere."
He paused, listening.
"Why am I out here? Well, Mom, that's a long story."
(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)
Lonesome Phone
In the middle of the desert stands a phone waiting for a caller, any caller. Someone might answer. More often, no one will. But interest in the solitary booth has spread worldwide via the Internet, where several Web sites pay tribute to the lonely phone.
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WEB SITES THAT FEATURE THE MOJAVE PHONE BOOTH
http://www.cardhouse.com/g/moj/mojave.htm
http://www.illuminatrix.com/mojave
http://majick.skunkworks.cx/articles/mdpb-1.html
http://www.wrdsnpix.com/990525.htm
http://www.deadpan.net/mpb/why.htm
