Death Valley was the next stop on my trip. I drove through right around dusk and was treated to a nice colorful sunset. As you would expect it was hot. A thermometer I saw at about 9pm when it was already dark read 118�F. To make things worse, the air conditioner in my car ceased to function after I had been in the valley for about 10 minutes. Not a good thing. The drive through the valley was rough. For about two hours I was sitting there sweating my ass off praying that the rest of my car wouldn't decide to follow the same path as my A/C. Even in the Owens Valley it was hot. It wasn't until I I gained some elevation on 395 that it cooled off. You never realize how vital A/C is in a car until you don't have it.