On our honeymoon trip Mary and I left Vista Sunday afternoon and headed for Mammoth Ca. 

This is a 9 hr dive so we broke it into 2 segments.
The half way point is Inyokern/Ridgecrest. It gets hot here so I would suggest leaving 
late afternoon and enjoy the evening on the desert.

We stayed at Rusty & Linda Bates  Bonfire Ranch.
They have 1st class accommodations for the horses, a 2 stall barn with attached corral, 
a 3rd large corral without a barn stall. And a large turn out area/arena.  They also have 
GREAT water.
For the human guests they have a 30 or so foot travel trailer that has hardly eve been 
used. Large bed, dinette, toilet, shower…..  For those with out their own full 
accommodations or in our case packed and not wanting to move the saddles out of the 
sleeping area. 
Their RV is clean and comfortable, and we will be staying there again.

Rusty & Linda Bates
8842 Big Horn St
P.O. Box 1089
Inyokern, CA 93527
(760) 377-4088
email: lindanrustyb@yahoo.com   

The next morning we went for a ride just across HWY 395 into the southern Sierras. Take 
the brown road that Linda and Rusty live off of, cross hwy 395 straight. As you approach 
the sand quarry, Sand canyon road (dirt) branches left. Follow this to the Aqueduct. My 
trailer would not fit under the Aqueduct but the shady, nicer parking is just beyond. 
Follow the dirt road west, past the gate this turns into an old jeep trail that goes for 
a long way. There is a stream that pokes out at various places along this trail and there 
are a couple of mandatory water crossings. Starts out as desert but pines are just up the 
road.