The hottest day of the year hit Houston on Tuesday. The official high reached 100°. That also happened to be the day I needed my car for an offsite meeting just after lunch. The problem is that my car has no air conditioning. If it's 100° outside, then the coolest I can get in my car is when 100° air blows onto my face from my open window.
I came up with what I thought was a clever solution. We have a casserole dish that has pads that can be heated up in the microwave and placed in the carrier with the casserole to help keep it hot. We also have one you put in the freezer that will keep the dish cool. So I took the cool pad to work with me, keeping it in the freezer in the lunch area. When I left for my meeting (right after lunch), I took the cool pad to the car and put it between my back and the car seat.
It actually worked quite well! I could feel the heat in the car, but that square foot of my back stayed cool enough that my whole body never got sweaty and gross. It started losing some effectiveness after 20 minutes or so, but I wasn't in the car too much more than that. The only other problem was remembering to take it with me (from freezer to freezer) as I traveled from office to office. I'll definitely use that technique again if I have to stay cool in my car.