Roadside Treasure
 

anyone else a treasure collector?

since this is 'Thorn season' out in these here parts, I'm keepin a close eye, especially areas where the mowers have come through and scattered a nice carpet of overgrown weed cuttings.
Got my 3rd flat in as many weeks - dang goathead :mad:
However it WAS a ride of 'everything' last nite - and I mean 'EVERYTHING' ... (being PC keeps from covering ALL the details). I wuz truly amazed how much stuff can happen/be seen/provide distraction in 23 miles.
Anyway, I also found some 'roadside treasure' - Craftsman 1/2" Open/Box Wrench in primo condition.

Anyone else a treasure hunter? What have you found recently?

... I brake for hardened #6 metric allen head bolts...

I pick up bungee cords and truck tie-downs. It has become somewhat of a joke with my friends and family. I must have over 150 of them hanging in the garage. I have also piced up 8 CDs, 6 of which played, 5 of which were home-made Rap compilations. I have picked up a few tools (adjustable wrench, screw drivers, vice grip) and a steak knife Ms. Slim insists is a murder weapon.

Many years ago I came across some real treasure on the road. it was, when I finally counted it, just over £10 in copper. That is £10 in 1pence and 2pence pieces. (100 pence make a pound) stuffed the pockets of my jersey and the saddlebag , and I think I got most of it. This coinage had been lying in the road for quite a while- judging by tyre scuff marks on it, and No money bag or anything like that to say where it had come from. Had to carry the coins all the way home and it went as donation on my next ride.

I pick up what I feel is usuable my brother always laughs at me but I have assimilated quite a collection on 1/2" wrenches open end, and metric sockets as well as standard. A bike seat bag, and $20.00 found along side of the curb in the gutter
also tin snips, and a 2"socket and numerous screw drivers.

I've collected my share of wrenches (spanners for stapfan) and coincidentally they are all metric sizes for use on bikes. I once found a huge adjustable wrench that I hid in the weeds for later retrieval by automobile. Also found a nice watch which I gave to my youngest son.

Not sure what's going on in my hood but...
 

And I have not started a personal collection but I've frequently see women's undergarments cast off along the road. Hmmmm

"American" is creeping into our language and Wrench has been around a long time- but generally refers to the "Adjustable"Spanners. Unliike the wench's which seemed to disapear about the year 1800, when they changed to ladies.

I must be riding in the wrong neighborhood.
I've never found a thing.

Last tour I was on picked up a twenty dollar bill,four quarters, credit card and cell phone, owner was happy to get it all back at our rider meeting that night. Remember to check that your bags are closed.

Speaking of roadside treasures, is there any update on Lyon the postal kitty?

I'm in New England, and we don't have goathead thorns. I understand they're quite nasty and must be pulled from you bike tires with pliers.

I've found some stuff over the years, and seen some weird stuff as well. I don't pick stuff up though, unless it's really interesting or amusing somehow. Like the battered Britney Spears CD's I spotted by the side of the road one time. Ya gotta admit, there's a statement there, but I'm not sure what it is.

I've spotted oddball tools, baseball caps, smashed cell phones (people really do have a love/hate relationship with these, don't they?) wallets (two occasions, turned them into the closest police stations.) and a broken Barbie Doll. Go figure.

t.

I have found a cell phone, a dollar bill last week, some porn (I left it there. You never know where that stuff has been.) Years ago I found a set of keys with the owner's name and address on them. I rode to the old gent's house to return them. He accused me of making copies of them so I could come back to rob him.

One of my friends told me just yesterday that her husband comes home disappointed if he doesn't find any sockets on his urban rides.

A wallet with about $10-20 in it, if I remember right, and no ID.

You need to come to North Carolina and ride Old US 1. If you like squirrel, Possum, Raccoon, Deer and the occaisional cat, there's plenty sleeping on the side of the road every morning all around the village of New Hill. I'm very careful not to wake them.

A small sampling.

Now I know where all my wrenches are going. Can never seem to find them after working on the car.

You need to remember to remove them from the bolts before going out and driving around :D ....

B'Dog

How about an 8x8 foot flagstone patio?
I live in a rural area about 10 miles from the last Reno onramp to Interstate 80 westbound, and near that onramp there's a garden supply place. We have a bike path now, but until this spring you had to ride on the shoulder of the freeway for a mile and a half to go to or from town, and there's a chain-up area about midway on that stretch.
A couple of years ago I pulled off in that wide spot, and there was a line of flat stones there, like somebody had lost them off the back of a truck over about 100 yards. Most were about 1 foot by 2, some smaller, a couple larger. I watched them for 10 days, thinking somebody would come back and pick them up, but finally on the second weekend I loaded them into the back of my pickup and brought them home. I set them in sand under a willow tree on my lawn, and they're holding a couple of lawn chairs and a spool table right now.

Being a backyard welder, I'm keen on bagging ferrous materials by the road. I'll hide them further in the puckerbrush and catalogue them in [what's left of] my head for future pickup when I'm in the neighborhood. My permanent truck bike rack is tricked out of some nice fortuitous finds.

Otherwise: tools, the occasional tenner, lots of underwear [wtf?], the odd 'latex expandable'. . .never anything really stunning. Mind you, I wouldn't mind finding the remnants of my mis-spent youth; if you see it let me know. It will look like a Rebel Without a Clue. . .with bushels of long black hair.

+1

Stopped for no apparent reason on a new route and on the side of the road was a dollar bill. Have it pinned to the board in front of my desk as an encouragment to get out and ride.

all I ever found were flat tires.

See picture posted a few threads above. I have a pickup and I'm hoping to find a good ski-boat to go with the new wiring harness I found a while back. No luck yet.

I have passed up both a bolt-biter, and a 36" pipe wrench. I did get my car and go back for the pipe wrench but someone had picked it up.

I seriously considered hauling the pipe wrench home. I should have just stopped and hid it on the side of the road somewhere for later retrieval. Why do I never think of that sort of stuff at the time?

Found a folded up wet and soggy fifty-dollar bill the other day. Immediately exchanged said bill for a new pair of Maxxis 700 x 38 Overdrive tires and converted them to tubeless...and they ride amazing.

I found a ***** last summer. I still wonder how it got there? what was the story?