Zion Nationalpark - Dehydrated Again

This morning, we woke up at a more reasonable time, to leave the campground in Page and drive to the Zion Nationalpark. Before you leave a campground, it's always great to dump. That means that you should get rid of your "grey water" (from the sinks and shower) and the "black water" (from the toilet). In the Camper you only have a limited amount of tank to fill up. And honestly, I thought it would be way worse to dump, but it wasn't bad at all. You just attach the pipe, put it into the hole at the campground, and open up the black water tank. Then everything from that tank flows out. Afterwards, you open the grey water tank and let everything flow out. At the end, you wash the pipe with the city water you were connected to, to clean the pipe up. That's it. If you want and have, you can also put some chemicals into the toilet, so that it doesn't start to smell. After having dumped once, it didn't took too long to do it again in Page.
After we were all done, we made our way to the Zion Nationalpark. It was about a 2hrs drive and inbetween, we had to get some petrol, and more food and drinks. We also had to drive through a tunnel to get to the Zion NP. As it is too small for bigger vehicles like our campers, they have to close it for both sides. When every car drove through, they open up one side for the bigger vehicles and then they can drive through it right in the middle of the tunnel (where higher vehicles fit through). But they want to close that tunnel for higher vehicles from next year on, so that it would be a much longer route to get to the Zion NP (via Flagstaff). Well, hopefully they don't do that because after the tunnel a very scenic drive with lots of serpentines awaits you. We made a quick stop at a viewpoint at the Arche, but because of the high temperature we didn't took to long before hiding back in the a/c of the campers. The last bit of todays drive was over quickly and we arrived at our campground. Hooking up the camper (which means connecting it to the electricity and city water) is usually fun and as easy as dumping. But in 40°C+ in the shade, it's not easy at all. I felt pretty weak already and therefore skipped the invitation to join Dana and Ann-Christin on a walk down to the river. I wanted to lay down. The heat got to me again. I tried to drink as much as possible, but it didn't get better. At 6pm, it still had around 35°C and we met all together for Stephens talk about the thl campers. However, as I was sitting there, I could barely think anymore. I felt as if I'd black out any second now. So, I left to hide back in the camper which was at least around 5 degrees colder. I took some towels, drowned them in cold water and put them onto my legs and neck, laying down onto the bed. I felt weak, as weak as back in Madagaskar. I felt a panic attack approaching and tried my best to stay calm. I wouldn't need to go to the hospital again. It would all be good. Drink water. More.
I tried to calm my fast heartbeat by Brest hung slower, but it was difficult. We should actually go to Oscar's cafe tonight for dinner, but I couldn't even stand up anymore. Also, I wasn't hungry. I told Ann-Christin that I wouldn't be able to come with them, as she came to ask about my being. A couple of minutes later, Thomas (our beloved camper dad) came and asked how I was feeling. I told him, I was dehydrated and couldn't come with them. He made a beeline to Nicola (our beloved camper mom) to get some medicine. Another knock on my door revealed Marit (from TUI in Hanover) who asked me if I wanted her to stay with me whilst the others would be gone. I didn't want her to miss dinner, but I didn't want to be left alone either. I was afraid. Me starting to cry was enough of an answer that Marit decided to stick with and take care of me. I immediately calmed down a bit. She brought me some Emergency Bachblüten drops which helped me calm down some more. I took some magnesium that Thomas and Nicola brought me as well, drinking water and coke, and eating salty crisps in turns. After getting some more rest, Marit asked me of I wanted to go down to the river and put my feet in the cold water. That sounded amazing, and as I felt much steadier on my feet now, I agreed. The walk wasn't long and as my feet touched the cool water, I quickly felt relieved. When some little fish came and ate off my feet after a while, I couldn't stop laughing. Sometimes it just takes a strong, comforting woman to feel better. Well, and everything else around that, but it definitely helps when feeling safe and looked after. After spending around half an hour at the river, we made our way back to our campers and found a deer grazing in total peace on our way there.
The others were back already as well and I got an electrolyte drink from Nicola and Thomas to get my back on my feet. To my surprise, it wasn't as disgusting as all the powders in Madagascar. But then again, it was also meant for sports people who lose lots of water, so it had to taste good somehow. That night, I slept with cold, wet towels on my legs and neck and was happy about any kind of wind finding its way into our camper.Okumaya devam et