Death Valley/San Fran/Reno April 2015: We Discover Austin and Arrive at DV

Heading south this morning on Rt 305 from Battle Mtn. The first town we come to is Austin, a very old mining town with not much left. We've passed through here before, but never paid much attention. This time, however, we noticed a Catholic church up on the hill. We went up to check it our and found that it had just gone through a major renovation. It wasn't open,but looking through the window you could see some interest art work.

We headed back down to the main drag and couldn't resist the impulse to go into the Serbian International Cafe for coffee and, as it turned out, some awesome apple pie! The proprietor, a toothless cheerful lady, was thrilled to have a customer, probably the first one of the day. She talked our ears off about her little town, population 170. The cafe has been kinda sorta fixed up, but the saloon through the adjoining door was just as it has been last time Black Bart was here. If only the huge old backbar could talk! Coolest thing, though, was that every square inch of wall space, including the ceiling, was covered with one dollar bills left by patrons or passers-by over who knows how many decades. So, we left one, too! Next time your there, its on the far wall, about belt high.

From Austin, the road quickly climbs to a 7600 foot pass, then connects with Route 95 and goes on down to Beatty, home of the famous Death Valley Candy Co. After some ice cream, diesel and smell of the roses, we head into the park. In about 8 miles, we drop from 4000 feet to sea level. The temperature goes from 76 to 90!

We check into our "cabin" at the Furnace Creek Ranch and have a nice dinner at "the 49er" cafe, one of three dining choices here. Its windy and bit cloudy this evening. We've decided this is the fifth time we've been here. So we know know our way around and we know what still needs to be seen
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