Death Valley To See the Flowers March 2016: Monday, March 21

We left Tonopah about 7:30, driving north on St Rt 376 to the Rt 50 junction. Here we headed west , up and over the 7500' pass with the great views, to the quirky little town of Austin. As we had on past trips, we stopped at the International Cafe for coffee and apple pie. Turns out the owner is rabid Trump fan. She said "don't say anything bad about Trump. You'll get me ranting, and you won't like it!" We could not find the dollar bill we'd left on the barroom wall last year.

From Austin we went north on Rt 305 to Battle Mountain, a mining town with not much to offer. Then on I-80 to Winnemucca, where we picked up US 95 on up to Boise.

It was a long day, about 550 miles, but mostly excellent, fast, no traffic highways. We arrived home in time for dinner at the Star Cafe!

It was great "silly" trip! We proved you can get to Death Valley in one day. However, we agreed that to do the park real justice, you really need four days. As for the flowers, now we can say "been there, done that!"

(Note to self: the road from Winnemucca to Home is really long, dull and incredibly boring. Best way to get to DV is via the route from Mountain Home to Elko)