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What items have you dodged or hit on your commute?

A truck was pulling a large smoker an when he hit a large bump, the top flew open and we were dodging charcoal pans, grates and other pieces. Sorry no meat!


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Not precisely on topic but closely related. I have some friends who were towing a boat behind their car. They looked out the car window and saw the boat passing them in the adjacent lane.
 
Back in my travelin' days, I was returning home from an RTE-weekend in Eureka Springs, AR. Back then, Hwy 16 down thru So. Central, Tejas wuz lightly traveled by cages and a cruise control set on 75-80 was easily doable with no worries. I rode up and over a slight rise in the road and noticed what I thought was a thick cloud of smoke crossing the road right-to-left at about 4-5 foot height. Large rest area off to the right, so figgered BBQer's at the pits. Visibility thru the smoke and on down the road wasn't bad, so cruise control stayed on.
Next thing I know, in an instant ole Toad's windshield was covered in *stuff*, upper third of my Nolan shield was too. All I heard was a constant *splatttttterrr* as we rode thru a huge swarm of bees! Holy panic - as I allergy test for serious bee stings! Got stopped in a bit - offed the jacket and helmet and pulled out the allergy pen. Calmed down, as I felt no stings and shield splat survivors were few and dazed. Cleaned up the windshield and helmet; checked the jacket in and out, and back on the road with a short prayer of thanx. And a new respect for *picnic smoke*!!!

Dick
Boerne, Texican
 
FYI, if it was a honeybee swarm as it sounds you were in no risk of getting stung. In my experience they are extremely docile during that stage of flight to their new home as they have gorged themselves on honey for the change in locale. Of course not knowing this can lead to the extreme panic and you can never be too careful if allergic. Glad it turned out well for you.
 
I used to live in Southern California. It is my believe that you can furnish a small apartment just by driving on the freeways and picking/selecting the stuff on the shoulder of the roads.

I have had to avoid a mattress, a box spring, a motorcycle ramp (fell off a pickup truck), a ladder and the inside liner of a pickup truck. Those are the ones I remember.
 
Truck bumper

I had to do a pretty evasive swerve about 50mph when one of those big steel farm bumpers fell of the back of an F150 in front me. Wouldn't have been so hairy if traffic wasnt so tight.... the guy in the small car behind me couldn't stop in time, and was too big to swerve around it without going into oncoming traffic, so he hit pretty much full speed and caved in the front of his car. LOL.
 
Today I dodged a hay bale that came off a truck heading in the opposite direction. It was a moving "target", but fortunately predictable. I had no problem, but the cars behind me had a bigger issue. Pays to be small sometimes!


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Dog

I hit a ~40 pound dog broadside in the chest with my front tire. He ran into the street chasing the bike in front of me. I was traveling about 35mph and launched over the top of the poor thing. Bent my handlebars and my front fender but I did not go down. Instantly killed the pooch. I pulled over to the side of th road to regroup, bend my bars back and pulled the dog to the side of the road. I feel bad about that incident but I think my approach of not dodging or hitting the breaks was the safest for me.
 
Tried to dodge a deer, but no

It was foggy and I was taking it easy. The deer put its head into the oil cooler and wiped out the right side of the bike totaling it. The deer paid the price, I didn't go down. Now I have a new GS.
 
A five gallon empty paint bucket that flew out of the bed of a pickup and started spinning wildly towards me on I-95 while commuting home. It touched my right toe, but fully impacted the right foot peg. Who knew such an object could explode into a million pieces from a 75 mph direct hit? The cars behind me getting out of the way sure did!

Oh, and the deer. Struck my left saddlebag at 55mph one night just a few miles from the house. A glancing blow, so no harm to either one of us.
 
Down here it is not uncommon the find furniture of all sorts, water heaters, a/c units, tools, ladders, washers or dryers, plywood and other wood pieces, car parts and other assorted junk laying about on the roads.
You can almost take your pick on what you need to avoid or could hit if you're not paying attention.:banghead
 
A battery box off a semi in heavy rain, bounced in front of me and clipped my left fork leg. Snapped on the head off on one of the pinch bolts on my R100GSPD. I was going around 65mph.

A aluminum ladder that just fell off a truck and was spinning in the middle of the road when I hit it at a perpendicular orientation at ~50 mph. I bounced right over it on my R1150GS.

One morning I approached a big queue of cars that were stopped on the road. I filtered my way up to the front of the queue to see that a land slide had occurred. It was not that bad, roughly a foot or so deep with trees and shrubs mixed in the mess. I said what the hell, I am on my GS and just powered through the landslide hitting a few tree branches along the way. It was nice on the other side, no traffic the remaining portion of my commute.


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Turtles

I live near a lot of marshy areas and this time of year really kicks the snapping turtles into “go find a nesting spot” mode. On the same stretch of road on my way to work I have dodged a turtle three days in a row.
 
What a great thread! I wish I was perfect all the time....that I always colleges the tires of vehicles in front of me to aviod unseen obstacles the cars might straddle, or that I always gave my self proper following distance, or that I was 100% attentive to road in front of me. Every time I avoid obstacle, I always count my blessings it wasn't one of those times. Scariest for me was probably ladder laying across entire lane in the dark. I hope I never know how bike reacts to that kind of impact at highway speeds.

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Going west on I 90. A big rig passed us with a piece of 1/2nch wide strapping trailing behind. It was 10 to 12 feet long

felt end snap hit on my boot.

That was to close for comfort.

Got on the CB radio. Driver responded, with a big sorry. Then he pulled over.

The next rest area, the drive pull in and saw us. He said that was on a small problem he had with that load. As the pallet

the strap was from spilled all over in the trailer.

Question did you have one on your bike. I miss mine.

George

aka: MTHelmet
 
Coming around a corner on Rt. 5 in Vermont I had to swerve to miss a goat that was crossing the road. In Maine I nearly whacked a free range chicken. I once had a turkey fly across at head level just in front of me.
 
Didn’t dodge it as it was on the side of the road, but one day coming around the corner I saw a peacock on the side of the road.


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Hit a large raccoon once, when I was riding a Kawasaki Concours.
Snapped the right foot peg clean off!
I kept the bike on its wheels, finished my trip using the passenger peg
and replaced the foot peg when I got home.
I went looking for the peg and/or the raccoon.
Didn't find either.
 
Got hit in the face by a June bug.

Left a welt for a month.

I also tried to avoid a little rodent thingy one time and still hit it as it ran under the bike.
Left green spleen fluid all over the pipes.
Not a pleasant smell.
 
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