I think it is interesting that a "desert rat" is living in Kentucky.

This is an interesting subject, despite the abundance of reality shows with that word in the title. Hard core skills are a good thing to have, but really, the kind of things Lori and OregonMouse are talking about are the necessary first step to proficiency in "survival" anyway. Some people take this survival thing too far and head off in an anti-social direction.

The desert is something that a few of us here are used to. That thermoregulation thing can be critical in this environment, especially in spring and fall where I am cause it can be scorching during the day and then freeze at night. Actual experience in a region is important. Resources that you have read about or been taught to rely on my not be available during the time you visit. For instance, getting water from a cactus requires that there has been rainfall in the area not too long in the past. These plants shrink and expand with the availability of water and can expand quite rapidly when water is available for the plant to take up. That's probably why many are ribbed in structure. And you are never going to get any moisture out of a prickly pear pad if the thing looks anorexic (all shrunken up) even though it is green.