In order to solve future related questions, I went to White Wolf's website and downloaded the official map of Creation. It seems to me that the one giant desert runs accross most of the south end of the map, and Gem is in the south west corner of the desert. Not only that, it appears to be the only city in the desert, so despite being a desert nomad, my character is likely no more than a couple hundred miles from it, as it's the best option for supplies. So I should be there in no time, even on foot. Lucky ^_^