Why do Maine Folks Up in Aroostook County Tie Long Sticks to the Guardrails?

There are several great reasons to enjoy driving up North.

All one has to do is take a drive in southern Maine, and you will be agitated beyond belief. Between all the historically bad drivers from other parts of New England, you also get to enjoy all the local jerks that drive ten times worse because of the aggravating tourists. Tourists bring out the worst in Maine drivers, every time. Sorry, but it's true.

But once you start heading north and get past Old Town, the speed limit goes up to 75mph, and the traffic spreads out quite nicely. You can set a nice uppity speed on your cruise control and get wherever you're headed in no time. It's truly my favorite part of taking any trips up north. It's nothing but sweet, peaceful, very fast driving.

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Do you know why they'd ever tie branches being tied to guardrails up in the County?

I remembered this post on Reddit a while back, and haven't actually seen the situation with my own eyes, but pretty much all the comments on the thread pointed to one reason those sticks are there... Think you know what they're for? Right now, County folk know exactly why it happens, thanks to Mother Nature.

According to the comments, they tie the branches to the guardrails up that way, so that snow plow drivers know where the guardrails end during a storm. Now, I'm sure a town could purchase a specific tool made to do just this very job, but Yankee ingenuity is obviously taking the reins here.

Why pay for something, and probably pay a ton, when you can literally pick it up off the side of the road for free? And if it gets damaged? BOOM! Just grab another branch and tie it up. It's not likely the county will run out of branches by the side of the road, right? So there's your very simple explanation to what would otherwise seem kinda weird.

It's a whole different way of life in the County, but definitely trust what the locals tell you. Anything else is probably a lie...