How did I get surprised by a friendly neighborhood outside Manhattan, KS?
We were in the neighborhood to get some aerial images and video for this website. The lighting was great, it wasn’t too windy, the grass and leaves on the trees were green, everything was going according to plan. We drove through the neighborhood to orient ourselves. Then parked near the entrance to the main road and pulled out the drone we would be using. While setting up our equipment, we had an unhappy realization. The app we would need to control the drone camera needed an update. And the update was too large to complete without a wifi connection.
Lucky for us, there was a mother and daughter playing with their dog in their front yard just down the road. We waved, introduced ourselves, and told them of our unfortunate situation. Not only did they connect us to their wifi, allowing us to successfully complete the update, they also introduced us to their dog and had a friendly chat about the neighborhood.
We could not have captured footage on this trip without this aid from a woman I had never met. A wifi connection saved the day and a conversation made it better. Did I mention we even got to meet the dog?
That wasn’t even the best part, this kind act didn’t seem out of the ordinary! Helping was just her natural reaction when she was confronted with a small need she could help with — even when dealing with a stranger. To me, this was a real expression of the reputation the Midwest has built as a friendly, welcoming place.
Thanks to friendly neighbors, invested developers, and underlying financial benefits, this is an area and a neighborhood that I would gladly plant roots in.