Air Sailing has a Cross-Country camp each Spring, with lectures and field trips addressing this risk. Well worth flying it. You can potentially secure a ship for the week by joining the Nevada Soaring Association, or get a rental from Minden (more expensive).

If you fly conservatively, you will always have some place you'd be happy to land on in range. For me this included the Miccosukee HQ parking lot for the 1-26 - didn't need it, flew past LaBelle. I have taken many roadtrips to look for good fields and stretches of wide, quiet roads without powerlines. Some of my landouts have been in fields that were nicer than airports.

Landing out will not win the day, so the quote you bring up needs massaging..