Just out of curiosity, how far did you have to walk to get potable water, how long did it take, what was the source, and how much did you carry back at a time? Sorry for so many questions, but this is very interesting to me.

Every year I lived in a different location but the shortest was a bit more than half an hour trip by bike and I could only safely manage a single gallon. Usually though we'd get water when we hitchhiked into town as we could get more at once. Both of these sources came from water resupply points for trucks but no on cared if you filled a few gallon containers. Rain water was also usable in many cases but we avoided drinking it. We went out maybe once a week or so?

I’m not calling you a liar, but I am heavily skeptical. Where and when did this occur within the continental United States?

I never said continental, this was on the Big Island in Hawaii. Though I would be shocked if there weren't similar places in the large patches of undeveloped land in the west side of the US.