I've seen loads of banana peels, apple cores, Cliff Shot etc wrappers. Dang cyclists! A bunch of hoodlums that don't belong on the road!!!(Just kidding! But I have seen that afore mentioned food items).
I've picked up a nice set of vice grips, an adjustable wrench, screw drivers, and more for the tool box. My DH and I have rescued 3 cell phones (and counting). Two went back to their rightful owner. One got run over by one too many cars, and ended up in the trash. It's amazing how many people put their phone on the roof of the car while loading groceries or whatever, and then forget about it and drive off.
Oh, and DH and I found a reeeeally big honkin' leather-bound bible. There was info about a local Baptist church in it, so we brought it over to them. The folks there were looking at us pretty funny - we in our lycra on a Sunday a.m., them in their Sunday best on their way to service! Oops.
Bungee cords--lots of them. I don't know what this says about their reliability. Maybe it's just people don't know to put them on fairly tight.
HA - yeah my husband once wondered if you could start a second hand bungee store with all of the lost ones along the side of the road. On another note though I have worried about running one over going fast and having it tangle up in my wheel...... that would be a nasty fast stop.
"Sharing the road means getting along, not getting ahead" - 1994 Washington State Driver's Guide
visit my flickr stream http://flic.kr/ps/MMu5N
Televisions - there are two in the woods beside one of the roads I ride regularly. I'll have to agree - I'd love to pitch mine, too! I just wish they could have made it to the recycling station.
One of the best "lost" things I see is a wrench that dropped off a car or truck into the middle of the road - about 2/3 of the way up a really steep hill I have to climb to get back home. It dropped in the summer because the road (tar & chip) was soft & the wrench settled down into the tar. It has become my marker as I grind my way up & say to myself, "If I can just make it to the wrench....if I can just make it to the wrench..."
"When I'm on my bike I forget about things like age. I just have fun." Kathy Sessler
2006 Independent Fabrication Custom Ti Crown Jewel (Road, though she has been known to go just about anywhere)/Specialized Jett
I see all the normal stuff (road kill, trash, food, etc) but some of the odder or sadder items:
appliances/mattresses
dogs (way too many...I can't handle it)
underwear
and the bottles with yellow "drinks" in them.
"Sharing the road means getting along, not getting ahead" - 1994 Washington State Driver's Guide
visit my flickr stream http://flic.kr/ps/MMu5N