To me, it simply sounds like this may have been a case of superficial “preparedness.” As most of the experienced preparedness enthusiasts know (and follow), your emergency plan is based upon a threat assessment of what is going to kill you first.

Maybe running out of gasoline was not on his original threat assessment, so he didn’t prepare for that emergency. That can be counted off as a simple mistake. However, he said himself, “I plan on going so deep into the desert, that any failure of my equipment, could cost me my life.” So he obviously knew that a gear failure could be catastrophic, yet made no (or inadequate) preparations for such an event.

Preparedness doesn’t come out of a box; it comes out of your head.