Am I the only one? A little absent minded?

Today I laid my proud Silky 190 hand saw that was about 6 years old and new cost about $90.00 on my truck back bumper after doing a little trimming in my yard. Couple hours later decided to drive about 14 miles and go for a walk in the woods.

After driving the 14 miles, it dawned on me what I done. I checked the back bumper and frantically drove back along my route to no avail. I know people stop pretty quickly and pick up items. Well, there went one heck of a camp saw.

The question is, I am sure none of you have left any camping gear, etc. on top of your vehicle and drove down the road? Canoe paddles, PFD, etc.

Am I Right?

A little different,but heard of somebody by Ely putting the canoe on top of the vechile, than driving down the road. They didn't get to far.

Yup...ratchet wrench my Dad got me...on the bumper, never to be seen again.

One morning a few years ago I set a plate with a piece of chocolate cake on it on the roof of my car. I drove 40 miles to work and when I arrived I realized what I had done. Opened the door, took a look and there was my cake. I ate it too.
~JOE~

Learned that lesson... driving my vet truck and leaving stuff on it. The bumper is the worst mortal sin. One time I left a brand new pocket knife on top of a station wagon. I heard it slide off and then remembered.... looked and looked but never found the stupid thing.
My son bought a pickup truck and when looking under it one time found a socket wrench still on a bolt....If it was a good one someone was sad.
when hooking up a trailer or a canoe on a vehicle..don't get distracted until totally finished...that can be the worst.
Oh.... if you put a 2' hitch on a 1 7/8' ball it will come off when you hit that bump... I grabbed the wrong one in my hurry. At least I remembered the safety chains.


we can all write volumes.......

dr bob

umm.... wedding ring on a chain with a medal...taken off when playing basketball.....wife and mother were none too happy.

Nothing as bad as anyone else but I seem to keep leaving my favorite wide brim hat on the top of the car whenever we get back from a hike or a paddle. I think it's sending psychic messages to me saying lose me. It's my favorite hat though and I don't mean to leave it up there.

No. Not me. Never!

quote DrBobDg: "One time I left a brand new pocket knife on top of a station wagon. "

My parents had something big break their windshield right at the base when driving down the highway. I found a pocket knife when inspecting the damage.

I found a roll of duct tape on the street a couple blocks from my house. It was mine. I had left in on the front bumper and forgot about it.

I had a half-full fast food soda cup stay on my back bumper for ~300 miles. I didn't notice it until I had to get gas again. I've saw others pull into gas stations with a soda on their back bumper.

quote AmarilloJim: "No. Not me. Never!
"

*%&^! Evelle, you never leave a man behind!

That's correct. I have NEVER left binoculars on the roof of my car and driven off. And my wallet never disappeared that way either. Oh, and sunglasses, and cups o' joe? Nope. Never left them on the car.

Coffee mug on roof discovered when mug tipped and spilled into open window.
Coffee mug on bumper.
Blanket on roof.
Various beverages on bumper.
Typically items were discovered after backing out of garage.

Wife's left a cell phone. Dad's wife left the fob to her keyless starting car on the roof while fueling - eventual massive, expensive pain in the neck there!

Six pack of Miller High Life. Four cans survived the highway ramp at 30 mph, only two of the survivors were dented.

I work for a moving company, and you can't believe how often a truck will show up at our office and there'll be a pop can or water bottle on the rear bumper that's just ridden as many as 2500 miles! That air-ride suspension and the back-eddy at the rear of the trailer makes for a cozy spot!

The sheet metal used for vehicle roofs is an alloy of iron and camoflagium.

I've hollered at cars driving past with purses and 35mm cameras on top and they just look at me like I'm a belligerent drunk until it dawns on them something is wrong. I've heard of people leaving babies up there too.

As far as my own blunders I've lost gloves, ice scrapers and tools but the most embarrassing and stupid thing I ever left on a vehicle happened last summer.

I was replacing the base moulding around the dining and living room floor with Ranch style 2-3/4" Pine. I had four 8' sections all stained in walnut and was applying successive coats of polyurethane for protection. I worked out in the driveway and between coats I placed them on the canoe racks on top of the Chevrolet Suburban which I thought was a good place for them to dry in the sun.

I then returned to other tasks and eventually thought I should go get a haircut. The top of the Suburban was tall and I'm short and I drove away blissfully. I drove through the neighborhood in the 30mph zone and then turned onto a 4 lane divided road and increased my speed to the 45mph limit. As I reached 45mph in traffic I heard something but ignored it and convinced myself it was nothing. Then I heard car horns behind me and I looked in my mirror to see the four pieces of wood flying in the air like popsicle sticks and cars swerving. I turned numb and fearful and thought it best to keep going and turn around somewhere safe. I was relieved I hadn't caused injury or damage to anyone but felt bad about all the work I had put into the pieces and how dumb I was.

I entered the Strip Mall where the hair cut place was and parked. I then walked across the busy road and saw a car run over one piece of the casing. The others were safe on the medium and side of the road. I sheepishly grabbed them. To my surprise they were all OK and the one that got run over I repaired good enough that I have to look hard to see the damage.

I think the hair stylist saw it happen and saw me retrieve the pieces but chose not to say anything because I always leave a her a good tip.

Zulu--I love this story. Laughed out loud! Thanks!

I don't remember anything myself except for cups of coffee. You guys are a lot more interesting than I.

When I was a dopey kid I had neglected to securely tighten the c clamps on a pickup cap. It came off at 60 mph on a freeway and I will never forget seeing that cap flying sideways through the air. I was lucky to have not caused a major accident. Duh!

Two years ago, student at my daughter's high school drove to school with a holstered gun on his back bumper. Went to class never knowing it was there.

North Royalton

My brother forgot his $80 Christmas tree on top of his SUV before driving into the garage. Stripped it bare and yes, the neighbor across the street watched it all happen.

Drove to a final exam with a coffe cup on the bumper. Ceramic mug made it all the way to the parking lot.
I realized it was there during the drive and first thing when I got to the parking lot I ran around back and there it was. In my haste I had left the truck running when I did this.
So two happy sips of coffee later I drop the mug in the parking lot, I had been up late studying and coordination was limited give me a break, and it shattered.
So I picked up the pieces and threw them in the back and slammed the truck door in a pique of childishness only to realize my keys were inside, the truck was running and my exam started in 5 minutes.
Disgusted, I left the truck running in the parking lot and took my exam. Afterwards I had a friend drive me to the apartment and get the spare key. He had to work so I had to walk back to campus.
Must have used up all my muddy thinking because I aced that test.

About 25 years ago my buddy and I were going fishing in Northern WI and we were dropping his young kids off at his parents house to spend the day with Grandma while we fished. As we were backing out of the driveway his wife comes flying out the front door with her arms flailing like she was trying to fly or something. Their 10 month old daughter was in her car seat on the roof of the car! About 4 years ago I set my brand new cell phone on the rear bumper of my truck. I drove about 3 miles to Cabela's then another 3 miles to Home Depot. While in Home Depot I'm looking around for my cell phone in my pockets. Oh Sh!t! I hurried out to my truck and it was still sitting on the bumper. I had just put one of those cases with the neoprene type pads on the back to keep it from sliding around on my dash. It worked.

I discovered once that one of my fly rods was missing. The last time I could remember seeing it was on a previous fishing outing, when I leaned it against my tailgate while I took off my waders.

Just last month I used a pair of scissors to cut some rope when attaching two canoes to my roof top rack. I absent mindedly set the scissors on the roof and forgot them there.

As Jeepgirl and I set off for the North Shore we heard a sliding sound from the car roof as we hit the on ramp for the freeway. I remember saying "there go my scissors" and looked in the rear view mirror to make sure they hadn't hit anyone's vehicle. Luckily no one was anywhere near us.

Cut to the Kawishiwi entry point some 12 days and a couple hundred miles later. I go to put the canoes back on the car and lo and behold...there are those darn scissor sitting on top of the car roof.

Left me wallet on top of my car in Florida once. Happened right across the street from a fire dept. Hoped someone would turn it in, but they didn't. Drove up and down the street and we actually found a wallet but it wasn't mine. A few blocks later we find a guy looking for his wallet and gave it back to him. All of my vacation money, credit card, SS card, driver license, all gone. When I went to cancel the Visa card it had already been used at 5 stores down along the beach area.

I left a Gerber multi tool on the bumper of my truck. I drove away and thought I lost it. I found it later in the street all broken and scratched. I have also found and returned two ladies purses that were left on the top of a car and fell off.

Yesterday I came home from shopping and found a pair of large garden sheers under a windshield wiper. I wondered where those went to. Amazed they rode all around town like that. I've seen all kinds of things fly off my car roof as I'm driving down the road---sandwiches, hats, gloves. A bad habit I have is to put items on my car roof while I'm loading my backpack---keys, camera, wallet---and then walk off into the woods without them.

Unlike many of you I can't recall losing anything off my vehicle. However, as a long time bicyclist I have found numerous useful items on the road. I have pretty much furnished my garage with tools found while cycling. For a number of years before the housing crash there was a lot of home construction in my area. During those years I picked up a lot of stuff. Those tools were usually of nice quality. Sometimes I placed it off the road to return for later if it was too big or unwieldy to carry on a bike.

My husband left his prescription glasses on the truck bumper. I found them but unfortunately not before someone had driven over them.
I am avid walker/jogger and like deerfoot I have found MANY things! Just yesterday I found a very nice 2 x 4, a phone charger and a dollar. (finding money is my favorite!)

~~

I left my fly-rod on top of my car and drove home from Crosby-Manitou State Park, years ago. Never saw it again...

After reading a bunch of these responses I've decided its not our fault! Its got to be a design flaw. There should be no flat surfaces. I just got done working in my shop. There is no flat surface, in that shop, that something isn't setting on it! Car tops are to flat, back bumpers, to flat. Bulldozer tracks are to flat, so when you set your sun glasses on the tracks they stay there. At least till you back up to hook up the trailer. You know the rest of the story!! Not my fault, design flaw!

Exactly how I lost my fishing license, pocket knife & a small bag of jigs this spring. I loved that pocket knife.

That bad memory REALLY surfaced this trip. Drove around Grand Marais with my Yeti knockoff cup on the bumper of my truck and it somehow stayed there (LOL)?

Then, I left the camera case with two cameras at the motel in Steven's Point, Wisconsin. Thankfully, I took my nephews up to Rib Mtn. for pics, or I may not have looked for the camera until we got to the Lester River, outside Duluth? That would have been much worse than the 1.5 hours lost retrieving it in WI!

Worst, was the lesson I taught them in LaSalle, IL. I pulled up to the gas pump at Casey's, shut off the truck, stepped out, never moving it into "Park!" It started rolling toward the street and knocked me down, I did the "Splits," and ended up in front of the back tire while my one nephew dived for the brake. Thank God, the nice lady from Casey's was changing the trash and ran to us and put it in "Park" inches before the back tires ran over me.She and a customer helped me up and those hamstrings and groin muscles are still feeling the strain days later.

I wish I could "Buy" more memory like you can with a computer!