Here I Drone Again

Reamstown, PA to Harrisburg, PA

September 10, 2017

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Reamstown, PA to Harrisburg, PA

With each passing day I get closer to leaving on “schedule”. Yes, I realize it’s only been two days but I’ll take the progress as it happens. My planned departure this morning of 9:00 ended up being 9:25. All things considered, I was pretty happy about that. And while I did remember to get a photo with my hosts, I should’ve remembered it last night when everyone was home. Sadly, Tom left early this morning and is absent from the photo. Clearly.

The Lebanon Valley Rail Trail.
I can’t help but wonder where the trains are!?

The ride from Reamstown was pretty straightforward and uneventful. That said, it was also pretty scenic – especially when I turned one corner in particular and found myself cycling in what seemed like a tunnel of cornstalks. It was beautiful. It also made me think, “This would probably be an ideal drone shot.” As I continued to pedal, I debated with myself as to whether I should pull out the drone and launch it for its inaugural flight. I’ll spare you the details of the debate, suffice it to say the “Yays” won the debate. How could they not?

I turned back to find a suitable place to unpack and launch the drone and proceeded with the setup. Shortly thereafter the drone was airborne. I was a bit concerned as there was more than a little wind but I figured I’d take the chance. With the drone watching me from above, the next thing to do was figure out how to make the drone track and follow me. That took all of about 10 seconds (and two taps of the screen). The end result was pretty favourable. Based on the buttons I pushed on the screen, I thought the drone was going to follow me down the road but it didn’t – I’ve since learned that that’s a separate setting but it is in fact possible. I’ll test that another day.


One of the upsides to drone shots is that I didn’t have to go back to retrieve the camera after the shot was finished – I just flew it back to me – without incident.

I had just finished packing up the drone when another cyclist, Steve, stopped for a chat. Steve wasn’t touring but was doing a daily ride. We chatted for quite a while which I’m sure disrupted both our schedules – although, my schedule is more than a little “fluid” and Steve is retired so I don’t think his schedule is particularly etched in stone either. Anyway, we chatted about all/most things bikes (including kickstands which we both feel are greatly under appreciated and under used by North Americans). We also spoke a bit of drones and other such things before continuing on our respective ways. My respective way ended up being altered as Steve suggested an alternate route. I took it and it was very enjoyable. Actually, there was a minor issue with Steve’s route but the detour didn’t really add much to the ride so I opted not to risk alerting the authorities.

Perhaps the funniest thing about the timing of the drone shot (although, not “Haha” funny) is that I would’ve sworn I was much further into my ride when I stopped to use the drone. Turns out I was a mere 11 km from Julie & Tom’s place.

Despite still having about 72 km left in my ride, it went by without incident and, quite frankly, with minimal effort. After yesterday’s 115 km ride, a short day of slightly over 80 km was certainly welcome. No need to rush into big travel days.

Welcome to Colebrook.

I’ll admit that when I hit the road again this morning (much of said ride was on the Lebanon Valley Rail Trail), I was once again more than a little under-prepared from a food perspective. As such, when I came upon the “Twin Kiss Drive In” I felt pretty obligated to stop in. From the outside it definitely didn’t look like much but from the inside, well … actually, it didn’t look like much from there either. That said, it’s a typical diner and the food was good and the prices were about what you’d expect. I’m not sure if my state of extreme hunger had any impact on my impressions of the food.

Fast forward a few hours and I arrived in Harrisburg. Tonight’s accommodation was once again courtesy of Warm Showers hosts, in this case it was Tracy and Teresa. They were great (as were their five friendly chickens and their many more numerous bees … of which I actually only met one but it also seemed friendly). And I even remembered to get a photo with everyone tonight as both Tracy and Teresa will be gone by the time I drag myself out of bed in the morning.

Today’s totals:
Distance travelled: 84.72 km
Ride time: 4:11:38
Average speed: 20.20 km/h
Maximum speed: 51.32 km/h

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