Up the Sierra Nevada's

Good day. I saw my first Rattle snake close up and I hope it's the last. I left my hotel in Vegas and went straight west through the burbs to Red Canyon. From there its a series of roads into California and then down to Death Valley via Tecopa and Shoshone. I thought this was going to be a tourist trap and the "Hottest, lowest spot in North America" line didn't really grab me but I was amazed at how scenic it was. Truly spectacular and it just kept getting better.

To get east out of the valley there's a long uphill drive here. There was a sign that read something like "To prevent engine overheating turn off your air conditioning". My aircon doesn't work and is not hooked up but I still watched the temp rise... too high. Before the engine cooked I pulled over but that probably made it worse. With no circulation the collant closest to the block expanded and fluid started coming out of the radiator over flow. I thought it best to give the engine an hour break. This is where the stupid indicator on the dashboard lit up. I went for a walk up one of the hills and had a great view down into the valley. Got back to the car after 40minutes and decided to go the other side. I saw this nice little lizard and had the thought "That's interesting where there's prey there's usually predators" and walked another 5 steps and heard the rattle as I went up a ditch. I don't know much about rattlers except what I saw in "West world" where a robot rattler bit a human and other appearances in forgettable western flicks however I do know Rattlers are fairly tame compared to Brown or Taipan snakes but the rattle touched something deep and primeval in my psych sending static and little short circuits up and down my spine. I was already running when I thought "What about a picture?!", stopped and took one step back. That's when the Stupid indicator started flashing angry red and the rattle started up again so I came to the realisation walking around stony bushy country on the edge of Death Valley with only shorts and sandals on was not a good idea and made my way back to the car. It had cooled down enough to put in about 1.5 liters of water and I was off. That was the first of a series of enormous valleys and huge vistas that ended in Owens Valley where I think I saw the top of Mount Whitney, the highest point in North America outside Alaska. It started snowing on the mountains and I ended up driving to Mammoth Lakes which I thought was a lake on the valley floor but is a Ski Resort at 2200 meters. It's snowing outside and I have to go down and drain the radiator as it now probably has too much water in it and may freeze up. I have some Anti Freeze/Anti Boil so will fill it up tomorrow.
Staying at the Quality Inn, Mammoth Lakes.