I have spent a fair amount of time in the states you'll be visiting. If I may, I'd like to suggest a few things, based on personal experience.
First, you're likely to encounter thunderstorms/rain at this time of year. Be aware the possibility of lightning- Here, from the National Weather Service:
Lightning is the MOST UNDERRATED weather hazard. On average, only floods kill more people. Lightning makes every single thunderstorm a potential killer, whether the storm produces one single bolt or ten thousand bolts.
In the United States, lightning routinely kills more people each year than tornadoes and hurricanes COMBINED. Tornadoes, hail, and wind gusts get the most attention, but only lightning can strike outside the storm itself. Lightning is the first thunderstorm hazard to arrive and the last to leave.
Lightning is one of the most capricious and unpredictable characteristics of a thunderstorm. Because of this, no one can guarantee an individual or group absolute protection from lightning...
You may also be confronted by flash floods. Slots canyons and arroyos are extremely dangerous during or shortly after thunderstorms. More info here.
(BTW, If you want to see a great example of what can go wrong with cameras in arrroyos, see the documentary Lost in La Mancha, about Terry Gilliam's attempt to make Don Quixote. It's fun to watch $100k cameras destroyed.)
In my kit, I have a couple of 30 gallon, 4mil black "contractor" garbage bags- the type one would find at an orange home improvement retailer. If a storm comes up, I drop one of the bags over the whole camera, wrap a bit of gaffer's around the head, and wait until the shot can be made.
Re film: I shoot readyload neg film (160 VC) and leave it in the (160 F) trunk, where it belongs. If I make it to a fridge, I throw it back in, as long as it doesn't take up any of the beer space. I've not had a problem yet. With the film, I mean.
Best of luck.
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