Dodie says I am always looking down, rather than properly up - at traffic - or higher yet, for birds. But I do spot things on the ground. For a long time I stopped for butane lighters, but they never work, which must be why they are out there. Besides, we don't use lighters. Like Jacinto, I also spot cell phones, but only in one case was one functional. This was in Florida. We found the phone's contact list and called the owner's father. Next day, the owner could drive out and find us on the road, so we could return the phone. What we really found was a new friend/contact who I think is still on our mailing list to advise of upcoming blogs.
I’m amazed the phone was unlocked so you could contact someone!
This was quite a few years ago. A more innocent and trusting time.
I too have found a couple of cell phones while riding. One was a short distance from a convenience store. The phone was unlocked, so I left a message for several people in the contact list saying "Let the owner of this phone know their phone is at the convenience store at the intersection of ..." whatever roads it was. Just as I was about to leave the phone at the store and cycle away, a guy rode up on his horse and said "I heard you found my phone." Didn't make a lifelong friend, but I did get to pet the horse.
The most valuable thing I ever found while touring was a rolled-up wad of $1 bills--five of them--in St. Louis, Missouri.
The most valuable thing I ever LOST while touring was a $40 pair of sunglasses in Wenatchee, Washington.
Hopefully I can make up that deficit in my next tour.
I'm still chuckling about the free cannabis. What a generous stoner!
Sadly I've never found anything properly valuable. The best thing I found (and still have and use) was a lightweight tiny carbon fibre pump in the Dolomites, which is surprisingly effective. I do however almost inevitably find a hat on every tour I ride - and moreover I now pointlessly and superstitiously keep them, even though I never wear them myself.
I'm still chuckling about the free cannabis. What a generous stoner!
Bozeman, and the entire state of Montana is an interesting place. Montana is famously libertarian, and apparently set no limits when legalizing the sale of cannabis a couple years ago. The result is that there are about 20 cannabis shops within a mile of Montana State University.
Montana has a similar attitude about gambling. Every tiny town has at least one, usually more than one "casino". I haven't been in any of the casinos and they have blacked out windows that make it impossible to see inside. I suppose most "casinos" actually just have video gambling machines, not table gambling.
A long time ago Montana had no daytime speed limit. But in 1974 the Federal government threatened to deny highway funding if they don't enact speed limits (now 70 MPH on 2-lane highways and 80 MPH on Interstates). Expanding on that success, in the early 1980's the Federal government coerced all 50 U.S. states to raise the drinking age from 18 to 21, or lose Federal highway funds.
The most valuable thing I ever LOST while touring was a $40 pair of sunglasses in Wenatchee, Washington.
I've lost count of how many sunglasses I accidentally left behind during bike tours. I remember leaving one pair on a B.C. Ferry. Another pair on a boulder in Utah. At the end of my last tour I somehow lost my Take a Look rear view mirror between the motel office (where I took it off) and my motel room 100 feet away.
I have found three wallets on the road and was able to return them . One strange thing happened when I tried get a woman to pull over as she left her purse on top of the car and she got real mad at me until she finally got what I was telling her about the purse . One other thing not on a ride but as we were coming out of a basketball game in Lansing Mi . we found a purse laying on the ground and when we got in the car and opened it . Surprise it was full of money . over 47, ooo dollars . we took it to the police post and they were able to contact the owner
Yes, I was looking for such a button, to acknowledge the cannibis donation.
4 months ago