This made me getting a flashback from when me and my two friends was on a roadtrip in California and Nevada and drove through Death Valley in the middle of the summer. We had to turn off AC so our car wouldn't break down. But you journey seems a little bit worse since it's nothing there. On our road it was at least SOME cars/tourists and we drove through it with a few stops only.
Hope you guys packed a lot of water, food and fuel.
We have 60 litres of water on board and lots of food so we didn't worry too much. Oh I think Death Valley would be scary.. I have heard so much about it!