Today, coming home I saw a shrink wrapped bundle on the shoulder. We stopped, I saw it was not wet or dirty, so I put in my turtle hull.
Got home. Got it out on the deck. Sliced open the shrink wrap and 6 high quality pillows.
Whoo hoo!!
My in-laws used to live just off a curvy mountain road that’s in the middle of a major urban area (Chevy Chase Blvd in Glendale just downhill from La Canada-Flintridge), and my FIL used to find all kinds of crazy stuff. Some of it was obviously trash people tossed out the window, but he’d find stuff that looked like it tumbled out of an overloaded pick-up or something. Bags of used but clean clothes were common. Stuffed animals, too. He would salvage a lot of it and donate it to a shelter. A friend found a set of louvers that fit his 260Z perfectly.
Does a puppy count? He was a real sweetheart, but we weren’t in a position to keep him, so we fostered him until we found the perfect family for him. Still miss that dog.
Oh of course the critters. Found many and did the same took care of til I could get the shelter to find a foster real family.
Not just domestic critters. A litter of raccoons. Several fawns and once a white baby piglet. We kept him. He was in the freezer labelled “bacon” after a long 6 mos. of feeding and Smelling. My keeping of real livestock ended there.
I see lots of interesting bundles on the side of the road. I assume the large bundles are murder victims and the smaller ones merely dismembered body parts. I never stop to investigate. That’s just how we roll in Southern California.
Teehee. My family tells me I’m gonna uncover a really bad/sad situation, that I wish I never saw.
As a bicyclist in olden days, you got to see things at a slower pace. Wrenches, squares (measuring item), screwdrivers, long rulers, flashlights. One snapping turtle escorted off the road with his jaws clamped on the stick I was prodding him with.
One time I had a car that despite mechanic’s best efforts short of a total engine rebuild needed several quarts of oil a week, and, putting more oil in becoming routine, I wouldn’t always remember to replace the oil cap. Thankfully the configuration of the engine meant that the oil wouldn’t leak out even in this situation.
I think I completely lost the cap once. I know that one time it wedged itself into another part of the outside of the engine. But one time while driving, I realized that I’d forgotten to replace the cap, and, stopping for a moment to verify that, retraced my steps in hopes that I could find it by the side of the road.
I actually did find the oil cap on the side of the road! Or at least one that fit my car.
I once found a Ronald McDonald statue that apparently had been hit by a car and lost his head. It was 6 feet tall without the head. I took it home and turned it into a lamp. The damn thing must have weighed 250 pounds. I moved it far too many times.
That’s insane. How did Ronald get on the side of the road?
Mr. Wrekker found a camo carrying case with a bow in it. A nice one. He still hunts with it.
I did my duty by watching for list and found notices in case someone was looking for it.
It was sort of at the end of a little driveway to a McD’s. I’m assuming a drunk drive through customer hit it and the workers just tossed it in the ditch, or maybe the driver? I saw it on my way to work in the AM and it was still there on my way home, so scooped up it was.
Two items of note: a KA-BAR USMC fighting knife (“kay bar”); and a Stanley FatMax rechargeable spotlight.
In early 1991 I was stationed at Camp Lejeune North Carolina. I found the KA-BAR in its leather sheath lying on the road and I snagged it.
Value: about $150 brand new
➜ KA-BAR: KA-BAR® USMC, Straight Edge ◆
About 3 years ago I was driving on local city streets and spotted a Stanley FatMax rechargeable spotlight, a bright handheld spotlight that makes for a useful tool. It was a little beat up, but fully operational. It sits on my night stand to this day.
Value: about $90 brand new
On Amazon ➜ Amazon.com: STANLEY SL10LEDS Rechargeable 2200 Lumen Lithium Ion Spotlight with USB | Collapsible Pivoting Stand for Hands-Free Operation : Sports & Outdoors ◆
On a cross country motorcycle trip, Chicago to CN & MA and back. Went through PA, NJ & NY going out. Coming back through upstate NY, saw a suitcase on the shoulder, beyond the shoulder was a very long angled slope to my flatland self. Any way, various uninteresting clothing items but it did have a cheap pair of cowboy boots in my exact size. Kept/wore them for several years just for the story.
I once found two twenty-dollar bills blowing in the grass at the side of the road. I looked carefully but that’s all there were.
You’re sure you’re name isn’t Cashalot? LOL
I’m reminded that when I was about 8 years old, on Halloween during Trick or Treating, I found a whole dollar bill on the side of the road. I was 8 and this was in 1969, and I felt rich and that I must’ve been the luckiest kid alive!
I found around $1 003 502 000 in high denomination banknotes in a ditch on the side of a road, once.
Unfortunately the ‘$’ indicated Zimbabwe dollars, and were so worthless as to be thrown away.
I did find a herd of goats next to a road in rural Zim while hitchhiking, they followed me for around 3km after I started bleating at them. But I could not take them with me when I finally got a lift…
I was out for a nice walk in the countryside and suddenly remembered that I needed to stop at a garden store on the way home and buy some secateurs as mine had broken. About 30 seconds later I walk around the corner and there’s a pair sitting in the middle of the road. Someone had probably driven off with them on their car roof or trailer and they then fell off going round the corner. A really nice pair, solid steel handles and I’m still using them 10 years later. Sometimes the universe does provide.
Same. My best find was a big Pizza Hut magnet - the type delivery drivers stick to the side of their cars. We’d also stop to escort turtles off the road but never encountered a snapper.
I was running on a quiet Sunday morning and saw a zip-lock bag on the side of the road. It looked like it had money in it, so I put it in my pocket and finished my run. When I got home, I checked it out. A stack of twenty $100 bills and another stack of mixed 20s and 10s. About $2500 total.
My initial thought was “windfall!”, but I eventually turned it into the police. I figured that the police just used it for a holiday party, but I’ll never know.
They could’ve at least invited you.
I once found one $20m bill. I used it to buy a slide rule.