Manzano Mountains State Park, New Mexico - August 8th to 11th, 2023
Manzano Mountains State Park is lovely. However, we didn’t get to explore the area as much as we would have liked, due to some health issues and needed chores. It was a great place to relax and get away from the heat.
Tuesday was a travel day from Guadalupe Mountains National Park in Texas to Manzano Mountains State Park in New Mexico. We stopped in Carlsbad just across the New Mexico border for gas, groceries, and trying to find supplies for installing our DC to DC charger (paid link). NAPA Auto Parts did not have the cable we needed. Reilly Auto Parts had the red cable we needed but not the black. Harbor Freight did not have the crimping tool we were looking for. After three stores, we decided we had wasted enough time and got back on the road. Keith managed to find most of what he needed online and had it shipped to a location in Alburquerque so we can pick it up in a few days. The drive, according to Google, was about five hours that day. The only other stops we made were for a picnic lunch in Roswell and gas in a little town called Corona.
As we were heading north from Willard, about half an hour from the state park, we started heading into ominous dark storm clouds. Ann quickly checked the weather app to make sure there wasn’t a tornado in the area. There were severe thunderstorms, with 50 to 55 mph winds and hail. As the wind started to blow our Red Tail (our Winnebago EKKO) around, we turned around and started heading back south. There was an alternate route that headed west from Willard. From the radar views in the app, it looked like we could get around the storm to the south. If it got bad, we’ll pull off to the side of the road and wait it out. Sure enough, we skirted around it. We headed west on US 60. By the time we needed to turn north again, we were behind the storm and had clear sailing.
When we reached Manzano Mountains State Park, we dumped our tanks and filled our fresh water. There was no place to dump and fill at Guadalupe Mountains National Park, so after four days, we really needed to dump and fill. We managed to get set up in our site before the rain started again. Our site was nestled in a pine forest at 7300 feet in elevation. Between the elevation and the storm that just passed through, temperatures were in the low 70’s when we arrived. Finally, some real relief from the heat of the past month! It felt so refreshing. We even got cold enough in the evening that Ann changed out of her shorts and into jeans along with putting on her lightweight hoodie. Keith added a long sleeve shirt on top of the shirt he already had on. W e didn’t mind being cold. It was 63 degrees by the time we woke up the next morning. We could get used to this.
Even though we didn’t need to turn on our air conditioning, we still plugged in shore power because our batteries were low. We did not plug the Balmar alternator back in since we knew we would have electrical hookups at Manzano Mountains. Hopefully, if we can get the DC to DC charger installed, we’ll be able to charge up our batteries on driving days. Our solar panels don’t seem to be doing the trick. Most of the time they seem to be in the float stage, so they are not sending much current to the batteries. However, they did add some charge to the batteries during our drive that day. Our batteries were down to around 27% when we left Texas and were up over 30% when we arrived at Manzano (according to the Lithionics app). The voltage reported by our inverter is significantly lower than what the Lithionics app is reporting, so in the past, the inverter was shutting down because it thought the batteries were getting too low. We have since lowered the low voltage limit on the inverter so it doesn’t shut off on us any more. Something is definitely not right with our electrical system. For such a discrepancy in voltage readings, there are either loose connections somewhere or the cabling is too small and creating too much resistance. We have not found any loose connections, but we haven’t torn apart our rig to check them all either.
Wednesday was a day of chores. Ann has been having an issue with her left eye, so she spent most of the morning trying to contact some ophthalmologists in nearby Albuquerque to get an appointment. While it was cool outside, Keith went up on the roof to check the solar panel wires. He disconnected each connector while Ann noticed the drop in charging amperage while it was unplugged and the rise after he plugged it back in. Each panel was providing power and none of the connections seemed loose.
We drove into Albuquerque to a laundromat. It was about an hour and 20 minute drive from the campground. Ann finally got an appointment scheduled for the following afternoon. By the time we finished our laundry, it was well past lunchtime. Albuquerque is about 2000 feet lower in elevation than the state park, so it was about ten degrees warmer. Temperatures were creeping up close to 100 degrees. A picnic lunch sounded too hot, so we opted to eat at a Whataburger. This time Ann added avocado and green chiles to her burger. It was pretty tasty.
By the time we visited Walmart for toilet chemicals, REI to purchase a second Garmin InReach (paid link), and Home Depot for the remaining parts for installing the DC to DC charger, it was rush hour. Even though we didn’t do much that day, we were both exhausted. We were glad as we left the busy traffic of the city and headed back up into the mountains.
After we fixed our dinner and went outside to eat it in the cool air, our neighbors, Chuck and Mary Ann, invited us over to hang out by their campfire. A few other people in the campground also joined us, Patty, another Chuck, and Richard. We spent the rest of the evening socializing with everyone. We were the only ones not from Albuquerque. The relaxing evening was just what the doctor ordered.
Thursday we relaxed at the campground and ate lunch then drove into Albuquerque for Ann’s eye appointment. On the way, we were notified that our Amazon order was ready to be picked up. We had time, so we swung by and picked up our items before heading over to the eye clinic.
Luckily we were early for the appointment because we had trouble finding a place to park. There was construction in the area and the only place provided for patients to park was in a parking garage, which had too low of a clearance for our Red Tail. Even the patient drop off area had low clearance restrictions. Unfortunately, the eye clinic was in the UNM Hospital on the edge of the university campus, which meant all the nearby parking lots were by campus parking permit only. We found some on-street parking on a side street next to Bataan Memorial Park, about three quarters of a mile away. Thank goodness she still had time to walk over to the hospital from there.
It took over two hours for Ann to be done with her exam, but she was thankful they could work her in on such a short notice. In the mean time, Keith found a slightly closer place to park, along Vassar Drive, then waited patiently for Ann in the hospital’s 24 hour cafe.
The diagnosis was a posterior vitreous detachment (PVD) in her left eye. It is a normal process that happens some time after age 60. The gel that fills the eyeball shrinks with age and eventually detaches from the back of the eye. Some people have symptoms such as flashes of light and/or floaters in their vision, while others do not. The symptoms normally disappear after three months. However, in about 15% of cases, there are complications, such as retina tears, which can cause permanent damage if not treated immediately. So the recommendation was to get another dilated eye exam in about four to six weeks. If any new symptoms appear, such as new blobs, flashes of light, or a black curtain, seek medical attention immediately. That is good advice for everyone at any age.
Since it was after 5 pm, we decided to stay in Albuquerque for dinner to avoid the rush hour traffic. Not far from the hospital was the Nob Hill district which had a little pizza place, called Il Vocino Wood Oven Pizza, on Central Avenue. The Nob Hill area looked lively and charming. We’ll have to check it out more when we have more time the next time we visit Albuquerque.
By Friday, we had enough of driving into Albuquerque and hung out in Manzano Mountains State Park. In the morning, we hiked the Outer Loop Trail. It was only a 2 mile trail, with 161 feet of elevation gain, so it only took us about 45 minutes to complete. The trail was nothing special, just a nice stroll through the woods.
In the afternoon, Ann worked on a video while Keith installed the DC to DC charger. Now that he had all the parts and tools he needed, he was hoping it would install quickly. It took him the rest of the day. The power was turned off inside Red Tail for hours. Ann stayed outside and plugged directly into the camp site pedestal. She heard some unusual language coming out of the RV, so she stayed out of the way.
Despite no power in the rig, Ann started dinner. She brought the induction cooktop (paid link) and Instant Pot (paid link) outside and set them up on our camping table. Dinner was BLT’s and corn on the cob. She fried the bacon on the induction cooktop plugged into the 20A outlet on the pedestal. After the bacon was done, she switched the power over to the Instant Pot and pressure cooked the corn. Of course, it started raining while she was cooking outside. However, she managed to get the awning out while Keith briefly had the power back on so she could finish cooking. We set up our camp chairs under the awning so we could eat outside. Even though Keith had finished the install, everything was still torn apart inside Red Tail, so there was no place to sit and eat inside.
After dinner, Keith managed to get everything cleaned up and put away. He waited until morning to plug the solar panels back in. Now we have a way of charging the batteries from the engine while we’re driving without using the Balmar alternator. That made us feel better. We didn’t really want our rig catching on fire from a malfunctioning alternator.
We enjoyed our stay at Manzano Mountains State Park despite all the trips into Albuquerque. Next time we’ll explore more of the hiking trails in the area and maybe even visit Salinas Pueblo Missions National Monument.
Check out our related video: Manzano Mountains State Park, New Mexico
(Ann)