The slogan on the sign welcoming folks to Inyokern, California is one of the funniest I’ve ever seen.

In fact, it was so good, I turned around after making it three-quarters of the way through town so I could take a photo of a sign. I hate backtracking, so it says a lot that I turned around and went back for a photo opportunity.

Yeah, that’s right, 100 miles from everywhere! Ha!

According to Wikipedia,

Inyokern (formerly, Siding 16 and Magnolia)^[5] is a census-designated place (CDP) in Kern County, California, United States. Its name derives from its location near the border between Inyo and Kern Counties.

Despite what the sign says,

Inyokern is located 8 miles (13 km) west of Ridgecrest^[5]…

Inyokern’s real claim to fame is apparently sunshine.

Inyokern has the highest insolation of any locale on the North American continent, having over 355 days of sunshine each year. ^[10]

The landscape around Inyokern is stunning, in a high desert way. This is what I saw when I stood in front of the welcom sign:

Wikipedia says the population of Inyokern increased between 2000 and 2010.

The population was 1,099 at the 2010 census, up from 984 at the 2000 census.

There wasn’t much happening on the town’s main drag. There’s a hotel, a couple of restaurants, a couple gas stations, and several antique stores which seemed closed on a Saturday morning. I think the town must earn most of its revenue from people passing through. I didn’t see anything that made me want to stop other than the funny welcome sign that turns out to be a lie.

I took the photos in this post.