For the Love of the Drone

In the spring of 2021, my husband retired and we bought a 22’ camper. We were experienced tent campers, but never hauled a trailer before. So, we started watching YouTube videos to pick up the tricks of the trade.  One video documented a man’s entire journey from Florida to San Diego in a small RV. It was fun to watch how he powered and charged his rig and cooked his meals. 

One habit of this adventuresome driver got me especially excited. At every camping spot he would level the camper, get out to stretch, and then fly his drone before sunset.  He wanted to chronicle his journey with daily snippets of each place he camped.  Not merely repetitive and boring shots of his rig in a parking spot, but gorgeous aerial views of the whole landscape! And what spectacular views you can get with this little gadget!  I was amazed. Everything looks better from above!

Let me tell you, the traffic jams in the city, the parking conumdrums at the gas stations, and the long hard climbs up steep mountain passes weren’t what made us want to run out and try our first cross-country trip. It’s the rainbow skies at sunset over the desert, waterfalls and mountain views that make you thirst for more!  What a beautiful country we have!  After oohing and ahhing, I said out loud, “I’d love to do that.” 

Doug knows how excited I get about taking pictures. I should have been a photojournalist.  He also knows, painfully too well, how often I beg him to stop the truck, or stop along the trail saying, “Let me get that shot real quick!” He’s so good and so understanding of me. 

So, here I am, the proud owner of a HolyStone drone! (Isn’t he the best?) 

I’ve since enjoyed capturing places we’ve camped around the country. It takes such vivid and impressive photos! I learned how to scroll the lens to get a shot of us waving from the base camp, too. What a great way to remember the places we’ve been! I love getting her up about two or three hundred feet and rotating toward the horizons to shoot what we cannot see from the ground.  Talk about a perspective changer!  

Then, in the spring of 2022, we moved into a 1700’s brick colonial in rural Massachusetts, and our RV has been set up on our private campground along a riverbank for the entire year. We have a big firepit, canopy, chairs, assorted coolers and hammocks, surrounded by mature oaks and maple trees that provide cool shade. This has been a place of joy to us all year, but I’d yet to capture any drone shots.  

So just last week, after a terrible heat wave, I finally got the drone out. There was a slight breeze, but the air was cool and conditions seemed perfect when we set it up for take-off.  

Now, how do you do this again?  I reviewed a cheat sheet of instructions about calibrating and connecting to the Wi-Fi signal. I snapped my cellphone into the remote, adjusted the antennas, and powered up.  Then, you push the elevation button, and it springs to life, hovering at about 4 feet waiting for instructions, like a good hunting dog!   

My heart races with excitement every time! I work the controls, up, up, and back over the big house.  Then, right, left, keeping away from the trees, I steered it into the clear sky.  Higher, higher! 

I was standing about 80 feet from the house (and WIFI signal), and the gentle wind didn’t seem to be affecting it.  HolyStone was holding steady, and I started snapping pictures that were clear and sharp. Beautiful!

Okay, let’s go a little further, I thought. Higher, up over the street, I got some shots of the whole yard and layout of the land over the river that looked spectacular.  This is so fun! I rotated it toward town and toward a friend’s subdivision, and shot different angles looking south and west.

While I was deciding where to go next, the drone did something I’ve never seen before! It just started took off ALL BY ITSELF!  It maintained altitude but moved steadily in the opposite direction even though I wasn’t moving the remote controls!   No! No! Noooo!

I hollered to my husband to get the car keys. “We’ll have to chase it and watch where it comes down!”  Doug ran to get his phone. Would it crash? Would it be completely destroyed?

LOST SIGNAL!  DISCONNECTED! 

Meanwhile, the green bar on my phone turned red, and a warning signal flashed,  “DISCONNECTED. YOU HAVE LOST SIGNAL.” I never took my eyes off it, walking toward the street.  My drone crossed over the houses and continued shrinking like a tiny dragonfly toward the blue sky.  

I kept trying the remote controls to no avail.  How is it still going? I wondered. And where is it going without any direction?  

We occasionally lose internet in the house, but it quickly finds the signal and we resume where we left off.  But what if the drone is too far away before the signal returns?  I guess it’s heading to Rhode Island at this point!

I was sad watching it leave. Well, I told myself, it was fun while it lasted. Thank God, my cellphone didn’t go with it! 

But I couldn’t give up or take my eyes off it.  I kept trying to steer it toward me, testing the up down control to see if it would respond.  Hoping it would! 

Finally, when it was about half a mile away, I could see through the camera in my hand, that it stopped moving away from me and picked up my signal!  It started rotating and responding to my controls!  

The indicator turned yellow on my bar.  Yes! It was picking up a faint signal again!  Come back! Come home! I kept calling to my little bug in the sky.  

I really didn’t want to hit that “emergency home” button. I’d read that might have steered her straight into trees or powerlines, sustaining serious damage.  Instead, I was able to steer it all the way back to our little clearing for a safe clear landing, right where we began.

My wild little drone had come to her senses and returned home, unharmed!  

From now on, I’m calling her, the Prodigal. She went on a wild adventure, but hopefully, she will never leave home for that long again.

Food for thought:  

John 15 -  Stay connected to the One who loves you.

Luke 15 – The joy of being found and coming home.

Eph 2:12-13  Remember, you who were once far away, alienated and disconnected from the Father, without God and without hope in the world, have been brought near through the love of One who never gave up on you--Messiah.