Whenever I travel in sparcely populated areas, I always carry 5 gallons of gasoline, extra water and food, and enough blankets or sleeping bags for COLD weather.
You can't be overprepared.
We have helped other families out with food and water on more than one occasion. Last time we were going in Pahrump, we stopped to see what we could do to help out a young man with the hood open on his truck. He had been there for over an hour and nobody stopped. All he needed was a couple of gallons of water for his truck. We followed him into Pahrump to make sure he made it.