Mally wrote:I wouldn't actually choose jeans for any outdoor venture but jeans are my preffered choice for everyday wear so could well be wearing jeans if caught out suddenly when the shtf!
With this in mind, I'm now gonna invest in a couple of pairs of Levis.
Mally,
Personally, jeans are not my first choice for camping or adventuring or just generally wearing. But like real-estate I guess location is everything. Maybe the UK isn’t good for jeans but in their defense they’ve served folks in my part of the world pretty well since the 1880s.
In fact, years ago I was doing some back county camping / fishing in the Weminuche Wilderness (near 37 32.442N, 107 35.801W – for anyone interested) when I ran across an old cowboy. Not one of those fake, Hollywood or New York “Cowboys,” but an honest to God pistol toting, saddle gun packing, tent living, horse sitting cowboy. He was up moving stray cattle out of the wilderness. Had, by his account, been there several weeks and would likely be there a few more. I noticed that he was wearing standard issue Levi Strauss blue jeans. Maybe the jeans over in the UK are built different, but a good pair like those at the local feed stores around here, are pretty rugged, at least here anyway. True they do take forever to dry in humid climates.
Anyway I’m always surprised how many views and comments posts on sling shots (what I think you call a catapult?), air rifles, crossbows, firearms in general, etc. get, but I often wonder if folks ought not think about more foundational issues like clothing. As a fella who carries a gun as part of his profession I’ve given considerable thought and practice to the type, capacity, reliability, terminal end ballistics of, and how to put rounds where they count when it counts, of the weapons I carry. That’s a fun topic to discuss with the fellas over whisky amid cigar & pipe smoke but... Discussions about a set of boots that won’t ruin your feet after the first 5 miles and whether or not you jeans will work out in the back country is also useful.
Finally, one last thought. One of the reasons I signed up for this forum is that, from my perspective anyway, you all are foreigners (I mean no insult – hope none was taken); but you're not so foreign so that I couldn’t relate. You all see things from a different perspective and that makes me consider issues I hadn’t in the past. So thanks for all the input, even if the discussion is only about the relative merits of “jeans”.
Cheers.
Your American Friend
), and also dry out very quickly. Strapped onto a pack on an average day, a wrung out pair of Soldier '95 DPMs will be dry in an hour. They also keep the contents of your pack cool in the process. Applying this same principle of evaporation, something I have found handy is a plain cotton (muslin towels work a treat) bandana, drenched in water and wrung out and placed over the head. Absolute bliss if walking/working in direct sunlight. Really takes that heat-stroke inducing edge off the sunlight.
They also fit in with my PIPS