Unless you rent the absolute most basic cheapo car (or maybe a top of the line sports job) in the US is it possible to get one without cruise control these days?
My view would be to break the drive up into several chunks. Depending on the time of the year I'd go SFO to Yosemite (maybe 4 hours) spend the night (but you must book and book early) then go up over Touolomne and spend the night somewhere the other side then cruise across death valley. Trouble is that, at this time of the year, I suspect Touolomne will already have closed. Alternative would be go go round Lake Tahoe and then down into death valley. I incline to the view that the drive down the central valley and round through Barstow is not the most interesting. Of course you can make the central valley a better route by going into Yosemite and/or Kings Canyon/Sequoia then round through Barstow or maybe down the coast and then make a dash for LAs Vegas.
I agree with the idea of driving one way/flying the other. And there are so many other places out there to visit; Zion, Bryce, Monument Valley, the Grand Canyon, Mesa Verde, Grand Staircase Escalante .............