Grant McGee: Cargo pants practical fashion

Do you have any cargo pants in your wardrobe? You know, they have regular pockets and below those there are some bigger pockets with flaps.

I think cargo pants are great. I keep my change in one of the lower pockets and it doesn’t roll out when I sit in a car. I have room for a small flashlight on one side and my cell phone on the other. I put my Swiss Army knife in with the flashlight. There’s lots of room for all my stuff.

Cargo pants come in shorts too. My love of cargo wear started in Phoenix during my truckin’ days. A department store was having a big sale and I picked up a bunch of cargo shorts for $3 each. Can you imagine? Three bucks a pair.

So when I found a pair of camouflage cargo pants on sale for $7 at a local store I was excited.

The Lady of the House was not amused when I came striding out in my new cargo pants.

“Camouflage?” she asked, with raised eyebrows.

“Why not?” I said, striking a macho manly pose.

“You’re just not the camo type,” she said returning to her newspaper.

I liked my new seven-dollar pants, I considered them very practical even though they clashed with my Hawaiian “flowerdy” shirts. I couldn’t wear striped or plaid shirts with them either.

I was wearing my new camo cargo pants when I dropped in my friend John’s place on Main Street.

“Goin’ duck hunting, Elmer?” he asked.

I finally decided to pack up my camo pants and send them off to the Salvation Army thrift store.

It wasn’t about people poking fun, really. The Lady of the House said if I’d get rid of them she’d buy me two pairs of plain cargo pants.

Those won’t clash with my Hawaiian “flowerdy” shirts.