Jerry and Carmel Adventures : Day 23

Our second to the last day of our trip, getting sad...don't want it to come to an end and have to get back to reality however, it's been another great day. We left Dalhart, TX it was a chilly 30 degrees this morning when we woke up and finally made it on the road by 11:00... guess that's retired life for ya haha. We did see a little action once we left Dalhart...unfortunately we saw a large plume of smoke where a grass fire had started and the wind was blowing it near the houses in Nara Visa, there were about 10 - 15 fire trucks that passed us coming up from the next town Tucumcari which all appeared to be voluntary fire fighters.
Took all the side roads to our destination of Valley of the Fires Recreation Area located in Carrizozo, NM. Although we do have to say the side roads are much more scenic however, you do have to watch your fuel as you never know which of the small towns are ghost towns and which ones are active towns with a gas station. Come to find out our destination place turned out to be a pretty cool stop, it's a huge lava bed from thousands of years ago. They have a nice hiking trail that takes you through it so we walked that once we got set up. We sat at the picnic table and watched the beautiful sunset. Tomorrow back on the road for our last overnight stop in Bowie, AZ.