Lucky find

I can honestly say that I found hundreds of dollars over the decades. I have picked up off the ground, 1s, 5s 10s and 20 dollar bills. The most I found at one time was $500. It was while I was working at a full service gas station while going to college. Walking out the pumps to "reset" the meter, I looked down and found a wad of money.

I did the right thing and waited till the end of the work day for someone to come back and claim it. No one did. It was near Christmas and I bought my wife something nice and got some stuff for the old jeep I was driving.

Lucky me.

My academic career ended when I was nineteen and I took the Horace Greeley thumb express and ended, after many preternatural events, in the Eastern Sierra. I traveled with a Kelty and the full accoutrement of a backpacker of the 70's so I was outfitted for adventure. I used every penny beyond rent and food to buy telemark skis, skins, glacier axe and had a bike shipped from the east. I decided to build a race bike and chose a frame from Switzerland. 450 bucks worth of double butted aluminum glory. WAY beyond my means, and only done because I lucked into a fellow selling a complete Campangolo Record groupset for pennies on the dollar. This was akin to buying gold for the price of copper. I took my bike into town and used the pay phone to order the frame. In my excitement (or trepidation, considering the expense/income ratio) I left my wallet on the little shelf in the booth. I quickly discovered my error after a haircut and slapping my empty pocket for the amused town barber. Back across the street to the tiny grocery and a breathless query to the clerk behind the counter. Yes, a nice woman had found the wallet and turned it in. she was still shopping with her two kids and beyond the heartfelt gratitude of my thanks, I bought them ice cream cones.

Leaving June Lake and off to Mammoth to the bank for a money order and a deposit. In the post office, I left the blank money order on the table provided for customers tucked into a bike shop catalog and turned to wait at the counter for an envelope and a stamp. When I went back the table , the M.O. was gone. I rode like a mad man to the Sheriff's station and they told me to immediately alert the bank. As the bank had the serial number, they alerted the tellers to the possibility of the order being cashed. The following day, I was contacted through the USFS office I worked out of that the MO had been brought to the bank by a girl, now under arrest. They kindly took the info, filled out the empty spaces and mailed it for me.

I put thousands of miles on that bike. lots of miles touring with a rear rack for a sleeping bag wrapped in a tarp and a handlebar bag.
Returning to the east to help take care pf a dying brother, I eventually sold the bike. It was stolen from the new owner. He contacted me for the serial number on the frame. I didn't have that, but corroborated his ownership and identified the bike when it was discovered by the police along with many other stolen bikes. Not many silver bikes outfitted with Italian parts and a distinctive leather saddle with big copper rivets and the Brooks nameplate.

I lost track of the thread after that, but I can't help the feeling that the Lost and Found may have been continued......

I generally don't find money - I lose it.

Paying for some books in a bookstore in Dallas one night long ago (I used to go to bookstores a lot until the advent of ebooks), I pulled a wad of cash out of my pocket. What I didn't realize was that some of it went onto the floor next to my feet.

Later that night, after finding the money was gone from my pocket, I called the bookstore to see if anyone had found the cash in front of the register counter. The guy who answered the phone asked what my name was. I told him, and he then said that all the cash in his register drawer had names on it, but none of them matched mine.

 You were lucky. Nature did you well. I only find, at most, quarters (3 times). Wife finds pennies. Kind of leery of picking them up given today's health risks (if you believe science). I did find a 10 once when I was a kid. That, converted to today's value would be a lot. According to the great computer mind that would be $82.36 today.

gabby, I guess you should have said your name was Ben Franklin!

ErnieW, your post reminded me of a little job my boys did a few years ago. The local mall donated all the coins from their fountains to the Friends of the LIbrary, and delivered them in two 5-gallon buckets. After an hour of sorting and feeding them into the Coinstar machine, the director hired my boys to do it. They came home with a substantial collection of international coins and bus tokens as part of their payment