So the mine in the desert is a great place to make a base you can get easy access from the house on the surface and from the entrance in the base of the cannyon. So the mine has lots of resources and allows you to hide out at night from the zombie horde. Their is also a lovely gun locker so you might get lucky. The biggest problem is that you have to venture north for wood. I also fortified the other diner for horde nights because I was worried about the zombies just eating through the floor to me. You also have lots of places to loot in the area and when you need things such as leather their are plenty of cars to salvage.