Nylon on granite... 20040628_9319
(Dedicated to Tom Galbraith and Wallace Hume Carothers)
My North Face Unimog sleeping bag, unzipped and spread out, dries in the sun on a granite boulder at City of Rocks National Reserve, Idaho. The Unimog is a hood-less style of sleeping bag that was made by The North Face in the early 1970s. In my counterculture days I used it as a quilt. Now it gets used during car-camping and the rare overnight hike. This is my second Unimog. I bought my first one in late 1972 and sold it a few months later to an acquaintance in Wiesbaden, Germany. I ordered another immediately. In 1973 this one accompanied me on a 17-day backpacking hike at Chamonix, France: the Tour du Mt. Blanc (a popular circumnavigation of the Mt. Blanc Massif). Two years later, I used it during a week-long backpacking trip in France's Maritime Alps. Sweet memories---except for the heat and annoying bugs on the latter trip.
This utilitarian design honored the Unimog, a utility vehicle made in Germany.
I must thank Tom Galbraith for exposing me to Unimogs. When I met him in 1972, he had one and swore by it. Tom was a civilian government employee and I was in the Army. We met at a bicycling information meeting he staged at Wiesbaden Air Base (now called Wiesbaden Army Air Field or Clay Kaserne). After that we hung around a lot, bicycling being a common interest.
I must also thank Wallace Hume Carothers. He was the driving force in the chemical research at DuPont that led to the creation of nylon in the early 1930s. Worth reading are a brief biography and detailed account of his work at DuPont. The latter link points to a summary of the book "The Nylon Drama" by David A. Hounshell and John Kenly Smith, Jr.
Nylon on granite... 20040628_9319
(Dedicated to Tom Galbraith and Wallace Hume Carothers)
My North Face Unimog sleeping bag, unzipped and spread out, dries in the sun on a granite boulder at City of Rocks National Reserve, Idaho. The Unimog is a hood-less style of sleeping bag that was made by The North Face in the early 1970s. In my counterculture days I used it as a quilt. Now it gets used during car-camping and the rare overnight hike. This is my second Unimog. I bought my first one in late 1972 and sold it a few months later to an acquaintance in Wiesbaden, Germany. I ordered another immediately. In 1973 this one accompanied me on a 17-day backpacking hike at Chamonix, France: the Tour du Mt. Blanc (a popular circumnavigation of the Mt. Blanc Massif). Two years later, I used it during a week-long backpacking trip in France's Maritime Alps. Sweet memories---except for the heat and annoying bugs on the latter trip.
This utilitarian design honored the Unimog, a utility vehicle made in Germany.
I must thank Tom Galbraith for exposing me to Unimogs. When I met him in 1972, he had one and swore by it. Tom was a civilian government employee and I was in the Army. We met at a bicycling information meeting he staged at Wiesbaden Air Base (now called Wiesbaden Army Air Field or Clay Kaserne). After that we hung around a lot, bicycling being a common interest.
I must also thank Wallace Hume Carothers. He was the driving force in the chemical research at DuPont that led to the creation of nylon in the early 1930s. Worth reading are a brief biography and detailed account of his work at DuPont. The latter link points to a summary of the book "The Nylon Drama" by David A. Hounshell and John Kenly Smith, Jr.