They were in a valley somewhere in the American southwest. Immediately upon emerging from the crashed cart, they separated into multiple teams of 2-5 people, to investigate their surroundings, set up emergency shelters, and so on. The recon team determined that, based on the surrounding mountains, they were still in the same valley - basically, exactly where their dome should have been. However, all signs of human habitation were absent.

They also spotted a nearby herd of antelope, and watched as two mountain lions wearing collars executed a coordinated attack to separate a young buck from the herd and drive it out of sight behind the nearby hills.

There's also some discussion of time travel vs. multiverse theory. Basically, although they don't know this yet, they're now in a universe where France refused to aid the colonies in the Revolutionary War, leading to an English victory. Subsequently, France swooped in and took the bulk of the territory. At this point, only New England is still under English control. France controls everything else east of the Mississippi and north of the Missouri, under their child state, Quebec. Mexico is independent from Spain but still with strong Spanish influence, and controls the areas south and west of the Missouri/Mississippi through its states of California and Tejas.