My first wife and her girlfriend (both early 20s at the time) drove off on a spur-of-the-moment trip into the desert because they’d never done it before. No water, no food, no pre-check of the kind of car that people that age can afford. So when the car conked out from overheating in the middle of… um, somewhere, they hadn’t been paying attention… 15 years before cell phones could have told them there was no reception, it was a freak-out experience. (They broke up not long after that. Might have been related.) No other vehicles going by to flag down, at least not for a couple hours, at which point they tried the car again and it started.

I was told this story by my wife as we started driving across the Utah desert, WITH extra water thank you! At some point the car (Mercury Capri sports car, towing a camper) flashed high temps and we turned off the a/c. An hour later, high temp again, and we turned on the heater. With windows open, it wasn’t too bad, really. Until we stopped for dinner, I stepped out of the car, and nearly passed out from dehydration (dry heat — it’s a thing, and not always a good thing).

Anyway! Applaud all your points, Jenny, especially checking out the car and extra water. Oh, and DON’T tow a camper with a sports car!