I often find cars parked in the bike lane. I might take the next one I find home with me. The owner won't miss it if they're that careless with it and it can't be worth all that much, right?

Just a Few: Can show the dead cow pic if requested.

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/h...theroad006.jpg

A plug nickel is a nickel sized blank piece of metal fashioned from electrical junction boxes, usually. When one goes to connect one box to another a piece of round pre-punched metal is removed. These are about the size of a nickel and were often used in old vending machines and payphones. They required some smoothing out to make them round enough to work.

I've found gloves, bungee cords, bike taillights, 20.00 bill and about 20.00 more over the years. Oh yeah, on my way home from work one night I found a herd of donkeys on the road...about 30 of them. It was crazy. Took me about 2 months to find out where they'd come from. It was a 'Gentleman's Farm' about 2 miles away. :p

They grew close to quarter-sized when wiring got larger. On the really old junction boxes for single-conductor knob-and-tube wiring, they were close to penny sized.

Two-conductor wire was bigger, and needed bigger knock-outs, about nickel sized.

Then they grew again, to accommodate three-conductor cable in a bushing to prevent chafing.

Nothing particularly odd about finding a nice pair of side-cutters along side the road.

But over the last 18 months, I've found three pairs, exact same model, in almost exactly the same spot, along side I-90 between Seattle and Mercer Island.

A few years ago, I think I previously mentioned, I found several scissors during the year. I have a hard time picturing the scenario by which they get there.

The snakes I understand.. but what's a "dunger"? Is it like our "P.O.S." phrase on the top side of the world?

I like the way you set up a little display area for your found stuff.

The 3 Cell D Mag light was interesting. I was commuting to a LD bike ride.
I saw the flashlight about 1/2 block away, laying in the center of a lane.
A car arrived there first, the driver got out and picked it up.
I arrived and asked him if it was his?
He said, No. I said that I would like to have it and he gave it to me.
It was in a perfect condition, had not been dropped.

10 Wheels: my husband has found some of his most useful tools while out riding. Some of them we've never actually identified, but he's found uses for all of them.

LOL, very cool

We have found everything from cell phones, wallets, gloves (the whole pair??) socks, a quite nice watch, but the thing that always makes me scratch my head is: ever notice the quantity of shoes in the road? I mean really, what gives? Where DO the shoes come from!?

I often find cars in the bike path here too--and ocassionally on the "toe-path" (sidewalk). Makes you wonder why it looks like a parking lot to the owner!

I always figure it starts with someone putting the shoes on top of their car before they get in. Then they forget they are there and drive off and the shoes eventually fall to the ground. Maybe someone else has a better explanation.

found a 150$ pocket knife once, its still in my toolbag and has been impressively useful, a bunch of hobo camps (i like to 'explore' industrial areas, apparently they like to camp there.)
Best was a still hot pizza in one of those delivery bags from papa john's...must have been left on top of car. Ate the pizza, returned the bag the next day.

I don't know if this qualifies as a found "item," but my wife and I were on the local MUP the other evening and saw an oncoming cyclist riding his mountain bike no-handed, while strumming his full-size (dreadnaught) acoustic guitar. As he passed he also provided a very effective practical demonstration of the Doppler effect.

If you had picked him up and taken him home, it would have counted. Espcecially if you had put him in your found-stuff-display. Sadly, you did neither, so no, it doesn't count.

I found a crazy lady in the suburbs this morning. I did not take her home though. I am used to seeing people talking to themselves here in Portland. You never know if they are unstable, talking on a cell phone, or both.

However this was a rather well off lady in her mid 50s out for what appeared to be a morning stroll. She was walking on the left hand sidewalk I was in the right hand lane. She stopped cross the street locked eyes with me and kept saying to herself "Yep, Yep, biking, biking, biking, biking." I could hear her after she crossed the street. Not real sure what that was all about.

Now that I think about it though that seems to be a little bit of a nutty neighborhood. During one of our many rainy days in the middle of a hosing downpour there was another lady walking barefoot somewhere. She was not carrying shoes or wearing any. I don't even think she was wearing a coat.

A home pregnancy test "wand" that I pass by every day-
(yes, I always look at it and no, I'm not going to touch it!)
Gross, but always gives me a chuckle thinking who has to do that in a moving car-
Also probably didn't show the desired result, being chucked to the road and all-

Cruising down by the river last summer I found a pile of wet newspapers, tall black leather womens high heeled boots with one of the heels broken off, several soiled pornographic magazines, and a broken CD. Thats pretty weird. On other trips I have found a small empty jewelry box, a hatchet, a sleeping bag at the TOP of a pine tree, and a live conifer tree completely decorated with christmas ornaments in BFE (weird!).

Yeah, me too. Pretty interesting to see it dissolve over the last month.

And all sorts of other stuff: a like new leatherman, tire lever, water bottles, bike pump, and bungees.

so was it positive or negative?

In border towns along the U.S./Canadian border, canadians would buy new shoes in the U.S.. Wear the new ones across the border to avoid duty, leaving the old ones somewhere along the way.

I think a bunch of people failed kindergarten because they never learned to tie their shoes and weren't smart enough to figure out that velcro was a valid second option.