Day Nineteen - That's how Horror Movies start

// August 15th - Antelope Canyon, Horseshoe Bend & Leaving Arizona // Distance today: 549 km // Total: 2079 km //

Thunder rolling. Lightning, first in the distance, but I was getting closer and closer. 

The thunderstorm was right over the hill the GPS was guiding me to. Good start. 
An abandoned, soggy campground. Three dogs barking aggressively. No host. 
Just two other men, campers, watching as I pass by...
But that's the end of the day, so I'll come back to this later. 

August 15th actually started pretty well. I left the campground at Grand Canyon early in the morning, hoping I'd still get a spot for a tour to Antelope Canyon. All tours started from Page, still Arizona. This town didn't have anything else to offer but the tours to the Canyon and churches. ALL the churches you can imagine. For the smallest religions. The whole street, and it seemed like it was never ending. I think the only church missing was the Church of The Flying Spaghetti Monster (google it, if you don't know it), but I'm sure theirs was just hidden in one of the side streets. Alright, seen Page.

Antelope Canyon

I was lucky and got one of the last two spots due to a cancellation, so I hopped on the jeep just a few minutes later, to the Upper Antelope Canyon. 
Antelope Canyon is closed to public, you are obligated to book a tour. Gun shots and graffiti at the very end of the canyon made this decision totally comprehensible. Still, even though it was so early, and I had one of the first tours - I felt like we were cattle being pushed through the tight canyon walls. "There is another group coming, we have to move on!" - "Keep on moving folks!" - "Stand at this exact spot, take a picture and move on!". That was basically it. It's a beautiful place. But crowded as a park with a rare Pokémon in it. 
After what felt like an hour we tried to push ourselves back through the Canyon, back on the jeep, back to the town full of churches, back in the car, onward it goes, continuing the trip. 
Next stop:

Horseshoe Bend

Such an INCREDIBLE place. The Colorado River forms a perfect "U" around a giant red rock, and only when you see a bird flying by or the rafting boats in the river, while sitting at the edge of the rock, you can somehow imagine the dimensions. It's enormous. I spent quite a while just sitting there, letting the feeling of joy, that I get to see places like this, flow through me. 
Unfortunately at some point it started to rain and a smaller sandstorm made it really uncomfortable to stay. The wind blowing the sand hard in people's faces, most of them fled within minutes. So did I. 

Red Canyon 

On the way to my campground I passed the Red Canyon on the Dixie National Forest in Utah. It gave me a first impression of what was waiting for me the next day in Bryce Canyon National Park. It felt a little bit like home - Disney World. How many times did we ride the Big Thunder Mountain Rollercoaster through canyons like this? Just that this was the actual thing. Not Frontierland in Magic Kingdom. 
I stopped and walked around for a bit, but also wanted to reach my campground before nightfall. Well. I managed to do so, but... 

American Horror Story

So, coming back to the introduction. 
I already had a bad feeling when I saw the thunderstorm coming closer. I knew my campground was back there, right in the center, right where I saw all the lightning flashing every few seconds. Great. But also - the reservation was already made.
Almost missing the turn, I drove up a graveled path for multiple miles. The thunderstorm keeping me company. the path ended in said campground. Barely any signs. I ended up at a fork. Well, where to go? 
I decided to go to the left. Wrong decision, nothing here. No people, no restrooms, but two group campgrounds, apparently reserved in about a week from now. 
I went back, this time taking the right turn - the RV of the host! Yes. People. I needed to find out the number of my campsite, since nothing was assigned before. 
When I knocked at the door, no human answered, but at least three dogs, scratching the doors, jumping up the window, barking aggressively. Okay, no one here... 
Continuing, I drove slowly through the puddles that quickly grew bigger. Found a restroom. No water. Okay, I'm kind of used to that from walking trails, but I thought the description of the campground said something else. Well. 
I was surprised that I didn't see another soul, when I actually passed one occupied campsite. One tent, two men under an umbrella, they stopped talking, watching me. 
What kind of horror movie is this? I finally found a campsite with my name on the stake, got out of the car, looked around this soggy, deserted place, with the thunderstorm still going on, and decided that I actually didn't plan on either getting struck by lightning, drown in the river right next to my tent, or being murdered by two creepy men tonight, and turned around. 

I'm not sure if I was being silly and overcautious, but I just had a really bad feeling in my gut. I guess I would not have slept a bit if I had stayed there. 

Learnt my lesson. Don't book too much in advance! You'll always find a spot somewhere, and sometimes it's just better to be able to check it out before. 

Well. Better luck next time!