most useful thing you found while riding?

No, but I dated some that should be there!

a gigantic white Igloo cooler/ice chest. I still use it!

Two or three moving blankets. Use then all the time

An 18 volt Dewalt cordless drill. Had to buy a battery and charger at the pawn shop, couldn't live without it!

A hitchhiker who offered to blow me for giving her a ride.

When I was a kid growing up in New Mexico I logged a zillion miles on dirt back roads all around, keeping off the asphalt because my motocrossers and trials bikes weren't licensed . I guess back then tailgates on trucks didn't latch very well and stuff just dribbled out the back as people drove down the washboard roads. I found loads of tools (including a couple of actual toolboxes full), tow chains, several hydraulic jacks, etc. A friend of mine told me recently that he has a "honey hole", a stretch of highway near the intersection of a dirt road that leads into one of the major trailheads into the wilderness of the Wind River Mountains in Wyoming - he says that people drive 50 miles on the rough road with their truck loaded with caming gear, it gets all rattled loose, then they hit the highway and spin up to 70 mph and it all flies out within a few miles. He's scored a lot of goodies over the years in that area and won't share his spot !

I was riding my bicycle up on the Blue Ridge Parkway this Spring, grinding up a long steep hill, and spotted a GoPro Hero camera in the grass. It had evidently spent the winter there because it was crusted with leaves and crap, a bit mangled from the wreck or being hit by a snow plow or mower, but otherwise in OK shape. The case had filled with water through a break in the lens and it had sat saturated for who knows how long. I emptied the water and let it dry for a few months but it appeared to be dead; I couldn't even check the photos on the SD card. I told a friend at work about it and he said he was pretty handy with stuff like that, so he wanted to take a look at it. For about $80 in parts from Best Buy he completely rebuilt it and it works great again! Now I want it back, dammit!

I'm a geologist and many times ride in areas where the geology distracts me. I was riding my DR650 down a tricky single-track trail one day (across the Morrison Formation of Wyoming, source of many fine dinosaur fossil beds) when I spotted a gorgeous dinosaur fossil (a gastrolith ). I turned my head quickly to focus on it, biffed immediately and cart-wheeled to the bottom of the draw, picked myself up, parked the bike (both unhurt), dusted myself off, walked back up the hill and pocketed the fossil. It's a paperweight in my home office now .

I could go on and on with stories of all the stuff I've found in 49 years of riding...

Interesting idea for a thread!

Doug

Roundabout coming in to Aspen, Found a High Voltage Elctricians Kit bag. put an ad in the paper but only got scammers calling. Still have most of the tools from the bag. Found a High dollar Bicycle light, Money clip with over a Grand in it, Misc tools,and a bunch of other random items

A crashed and abandoned beer truck between Abancay & Nazca, Peru. This was at about 6:30 in the morning. I had about 8oz of a fresh cold Brahma & then had to be on my way.

So??

Found a fly vest filled with all the tools and flies. Also had the owner's ID so I didn't get to keep it.

Also have found two cell phones, both with nekkid pics of the owners who both happened to be quite attractive. I didn't get to keep the phones but I supppose I wasn't left empty-handed...

Wow, that last one is ripe for the pickin'.

My sanity.

WOW!!!
It's like KLR owners nirvana.

My rearview mirror

As a surveyor i used to find all sorts of stuff on the side of the road, pulled into a parking lot and found an Ipod touch last year, which was pretty cool , i probably would have never bought one myself, so it was the perfect gift

I found a brand new roll of electrical tape and was criticized for going back to pick it up. Since then, i've used it for a dozen things including waterproofing my boot in a rain storm. Very useful thing to have in your tank bag!

I was 18 and on my way home from the dentist getting my braces adjusted, 25 mile ride home on my Suzuki TS250. As I was leaving the city on a back road I see a grocery bag (paper back then) with some stuff sticking out, it was an entire bag full of "Special" pipes, bongs and various other "Items", Needless to say the bag went on my lap and I managed to carry it all the way home.

Your good day was someone elses BAD BAD BAD Day

Found $1600 in hundred dollar bills blowing down I-70. Found a brand new Giant mountain bike, somewhat worse for the wear and tear, salvaged a bunch of parts off of it... a pair of WWII era 6X30 Zeiss binoculars.

Most useless nice-to-have shiny thing found is a Porsche hubcap "For off-road use only" in knockoff style.
Didn't fit into my LC4...

In the last week (in my Truck) I have found a medicine ball (30lb'r) and a spare wheel (Toyota I believe) Sold em both got $40 for the medicine ball and $30 for the spare.

10lb sledge hammer. IIt was brandnew. Nearly hit it, that would have been a day ender.

A roll of duct tape

Pair of Ray-Ban Aviators. Up until then I'd always worn $10 throwaways 'cos I kept loosing them, usually at the rate of 2 pairs per year!

The punch line is that 5 years later, I still had 'em, I lost a nose pad, the shop sent them away to be repaired and they LOST them...

So...

They replaced them with a free Pair of Ray-Ban Aviators