She was nuts to leave her car. Plus, if I drove in the desert, I would keep several gallons of water in the trunk. Food is immaterial in short-term survival situations of ten days or less. Exposure will kill you first - possibly within hours, then thirst within days. Only way lack of food kills in that timeframe is if one is diabetic or has some other medical condition.
The rule of 3’s:
3 minutes without air
3 hours with no shelter
3 days without water
3 weeks with no food
A friend of mine lives in Tucson and is out in the desert quite a bit. He has all sorts of water.
“Yeah - I haven’t ever needed to get into my emergency stash. Although I do give a lot to the illegals that I see that need it.
And then when I get back to cell phone coverage I speed dial the Border Patrol and give them the GPS coordinates.
Just because I want them caught doesn’t mean I can’t be Christian about it!”