I think that the remark about returning to the Gilberts (if AE really made such a remark - as has been noticed before, a third-hand account isn't really satusfactory evidence at all) should be considered in the light of how AE is known to have handled the risks involved in her previous flights. Her attitude seems to have been "all or nothing", and she never seems to have made any serious contingency planning. When she felt that her planes were too heavy, safety equipment was the first thing she discarded. Even on her transatlantic flight in 1932, she didn't carry a life raft. When friends asked her how she felt about the risks, she usually laughed them off.
Also, she doesn't seem to have been very knowledgeable about the routes she flew. In 1932, she had someone else do the detailed planning for her, and stuck to a compass heading because she felt a great circle route was too difficult to handle. She seems to not really have known where she was when she landed. When she had a navigator with her, she seems to have been content to fly whatever course he set.
So even if she actually told Gore Vidal she'd head back to the Gilberts, I think it's fair to assume she hadn't really thought it through.