Odd things on the side of the road

This was not what I wanted to see on the side of the road.  Judging by the size of it, this came off of a very heavy commercial like truck.

Maybe it fell off a scrap truck.   Yeah, thats it...

They fall off from time to time. Normal there is a lot of other damage. 

In my travels today I saw 2 home vacuum cleaners, both blue, both on the side of the road, and 20 miles apart.  I thought that was an amazing coincidence.

And so many full bottles of yellow Gatorade

Many years ago, I was pretty poor. I used to be the ultimate scrounger. I would pick up almost anything. Furniture, appliances, tools, bikes, you name it. If it was in better shape than what I had at the time, I would pick it up and upgrade. I would leave the house first thing in the morning on trash day and troll the neighborhood. In our first 10 years of marriage, 80% of our furniture and most of our appliances came from the side of the road. 

We still have some of that furniture. My two favorite chairs came from the side of the road 30 years ago and my wife and I just had the conversation about recovering them for the 3rd time. Nothing new is near the quality and I hate the tendency toward overstuffed furniture. 

I was driving on the highway one day and spotted something that was a very bright and specific turquoise color... the color of a Yeti brand bicycle, which are pretty (VERY) expensive.  I actually pulled over to look and sure enough, it was a very nice, several-thousand dollar mountain bike, just chilling off the side of the highway.  I threw it in the truck bed, started poking around social media bike forums, and ultimately reunited it with its owner after a couple days.  It had flown off the back of his rack and he didn't know specifically where he lost it. 

It was a nice feeling, and pretty cool as to the power of the internet.  

Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) said:

And so many full bottles of yellow Gatorade

I used to live in New Orleans and work in Gulfport.  I frequently drove home late at night/early morning and the Pearl River bridge on I-10 had a  brand new super-single truck tire leaning on the guardrail about half way across.  Absolutely no space to pull a car off, way too far to walk in and roll it out.  One day I just took the motorcycle to work.  I rode home in a drizzle and 50 degrees freezing my butt off just so I could stop and snag that tire.  I got half a hernia lifting it up.  I chucked it over the sissy bar like hanging a coat on a peg.  I made it to the other side of the bridge before it worked its way down and started catching on the rear tire of the bike nearly sending me to my death in the swamp.

So I unloaded it at the end of the bridge and the following day I took the truck.  I think I sold it for $200.  That bought a lot of adult beverages for not too much work.

For those who haven't ever been there, the Pearl River Bridge:

My dad was a total Packrat.  In fact, his CB handle back in the day was Packrat.  He wouldn't hesitate to pull off the highway at any time... towing the boat with a slide-in camper on it, driving a dump truck, whatever... when he saw something.  This was back when the speed limit was 55 so he drove 50, and he could spot a screwdriver, a bungee cord, or a crescent wrench like a hawk can see a mouse.

I kinda picked up that habit from him.  I won't stop and endanger traffic, but I'm a sucker for those 4" truck tie down straps.  I have a bunch that I've salvaged from the roadside.  I have a two CDs I found at different times.  One was 12" of Snow by Snow (remember the song Informer from 1992-ish?) and one from a little-known white rapper dude from the south called Yelawolf who rapped about things like camouflage and hunting.  He never really made it (target audience, perhaps?) but I though he was actually pretty good.

Yelawolf.  I think it sounds great, but a gangster rap video that includes butchering a hog, a Mossberg shotgun, a double wide, and a gutted deer swinging on a porch?  Interesting choices.  I mean, it's produced by "DJ Burn One."  I kinda love it.

I once came across a prosthetic eye at an antique store.

I bought it just so I could leave in a bathroom at work and wait for it to pop up in the daily lost and found e-mail.

ROFLMAO!!!

I've picked up more ice chests than I can count. I just sold a 200 qt SSI Marine cooler (50 gallons!) for $60 that I've been holding on to for years. Guy drove all the way from Tampa to pick it up.

Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) said:

And so many full bottles of yellow Gatorade