Desert water bags

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highdesertranger said:
well it's been over a year since I placed my order and 5 months since they billed me but I finally got my Desert water bags.  we had these when I was a kid exploring Nevada with our family.  I research these and found the company that bought the rights to manufacture the bags and ordered them in the spring of 2016.  finally today I came home from work and there was a box on my porch,  guess what was in it,









so after many, many Emails back and forth and me not believing their excuses they finally came through.  highdesertranger

Remember them as a kid also.being a Vegas native and bouncing around the desert with my grandparents.and can remember the old ford trucks with the desert cool package Damn radiator was like a 7 row lol
 
I recall using them years back when we worked the trapline out in the mojave... hangin from the bumper horns of the car or truck.
Anything a little cooler than the rest of creation was welcome back then ! lol
It was good fortune when enough survived the miles to pass around...
...tried dripping candle wax from an old pot on em once... didn't help.
Them flaxed ducks are probably better than what we had. wheels
 
The canvas water bags have some interesting History. 
Item sold back in April 2012 for $60.00 
http://www.icollector.com/WATER-BAG_i12276640

A 1976 photo of the Rio Puerco Trading Post 15 miles West of Albuquerque, NM on Hwy. 66
http://econtent.unm.edu/cdm/ref/collection/wjlr66/id/16

An old Post card photo(?) or drawing. "Puerco" is Spanish for "pig".
http://www.route66university.com/photos/postcard_68/slides/puerco.html
The 1940's? Can't make a guess on the old cars date on left side of photo.

Built in early 40's, Rio Puerco Trading Post, some interesting history about Roue 66, link to a book "Route 66 Lost & Found
https://books.google.com/books?id=4...&q=rio puerco trading post new mexico&f=false

The West is so rich in History. I love the Old West.
 
I remember these things, but I grew up in the high desert.

My little HHR is styled off a '49 Suburban, and I've thought it would be cool to lightly customize it with some further style bits from that time period. Also, would be interesting to hang a couple of these from the car. Of course, I'd use them as intended, as I'm not a fan of keeping stuff around just for decoration.
I'd hang 'em off my Suburban, too. :)
Right up on the grille guard.
 
So they go on the grille?  I was trying to figure out where they went outside the car.  Back in the day there were running boards where you could put stuff, but on the grille, I'd think it would block air flow and euuu, bugs would get spattered on it.  Still cold water sounds appealing if you don't have a cooler.  Smashed bugs might put me off though.
 
don't open your mouth when riding a bike. in the desert it's like a evaporative cooler in front of your radiator. highdesertranger
 
My dad used to hang one on the front of the car when we drove to california across the desert. Put it off to the side a bit so as not to reduce airflow to the big 425 under the hood.
 
ZoNiE said:
My dad used to hang one on the front of the car when we drove to california across the desert. Put it off to the side a bit so as not to reduce airflow to the big 425 under the hood.

I take it the design of the bag is that you need low humidity for it to work.   I suppose here in Florida it would be a bug shmush bag full of warm water. 
sad.gif


Still, I remember reading old magazines online (google books advanced....just tick the full versions and you get full magazines for free...if you tick something else, you get pay hits) like Outing Magazine and old Field and Stream from the 20s and 30s when all of America was into auto camping and they advertised a picnic basket made like a desert water bag to keep food cool.  You strapped it to your running board as everyone had running boards in those days.   I found so many cool things in the Outing Magazine that I downloaded all of them for offline reading.  It's so interesting to see how they camped in the old days.  And that desert bag and the picnic basket were big hits with auto campers.   When I run into that picnic basket again in an ad, I think I'll check ebay and see if I can find one.  Might be interesting to make a modern version of it.
 
Using the same principle, saturate your clothes, tie yourself to the bumper, and have someone drive you down the highway to keep cool.
 
MrNoodly said:
Using the same principle, saturate your clothes, tie yourself to the bumper, and have someone drive you down the highway to keep cool.

No thanks.  I already made the mistake of going on the river ride at the theme park immediately before getting on the roller coaster.  BAD idea.  That's how they make their money at the theme parks.  You do that and you're running into the store where they sell the theme park souvenir clothing for some warm DRY fleecy sweatpants and shirts as well as overpriced flip flops.  I know.
 
So do the bags have any kind of lining or is it just tight weave canvas?
 
just canvas just like the old days. that's how they work they weep/leak and the weeping water cause evaporative cooling. highdesertranger
 
highdesertranwell it\ said:
I am not familiar with the desert water bags. You obviously prefer them to the camel bags hikers use, and evidently also prefer them to the bottle or plastic containers people carry their water supply in. Can you tell me why? I haven't purchased anything yet and appreciate all input. Thanks!
 
I don't prefer them in fact I have the big insulated Camel Back. the Camel Back is in my day pack and goes with me when ever I leave camp on anything more then a short jaunt. I wanted the Desert bags for the nostalgia/memories. when I was young and the family would go exploring with the family in the desert, Pops always had one strapped to the grill. besides they look really cool on the front of my truck. highdesertranger
 
I remember the bags hanging on the front of our old Desoto in Oklahoma.  On one trip to New Mexico dad borrowed a "thermador" swamp cooler - we thought we'd died and gone to heaven, the cool air blowing through the car
 

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grew up in the desert and those water bags work great-
first time my teeth cracked as a kid was from drinking cold
water from one of those desert water bags
 
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