As most of you are aware, during this trip I have taken thousands of photographs and have posted several hundred on this website. I have also taken many hours of video, but have posted very little. There are two reasons for this. First, much of the video is from dashcams. It involves hours of video, with only small portions actually useable. Second, I discovered that the learning curve for editing and posting video is quite steep. I may be retired, but I have a new appreciation for what it takes to learn how to edit video well.
But after eleven months on the road, I finally managed to edit and post five short videos. All together, they represent about 20 minutes of live action. Since the files are so large, the only practical way to post them in on YouTube, with links located on this site.
The links are located under a new heading in the site index, called VLOGs (Video Logs). Be warned: these are my first attempts, and the camera work and editing will hopefully get better with more practice.
The five videos (click on the red text to go directly to the clip, and make sure you have the sound on):
- How we load our Can Am — this is a one minute time lapse video, taken with our Go Pro, aimed at showing the steps involved in loading our motorcycle onto the deck on the back of the fifth wheel. The music we found for the background seems to suit it well. This one has the most views and the most likes.
- Tools and Toys in Adam, Our Truck — this is the longest video, at about 8 and a half minutes. This was also done with a handheld Go Pro, and shows all of the electronics that we have in the truck that most people do not have in their cars, such as a tire pressure monitor, dashcam, trailer brake controller, rear view camera monitor, etc. My narration is not the greatest, but hopefully it will be interesting to some people
- Alligator Adventure — This two minute video, with some musical background, shows what it is like to glide through the Louisiana swamp looking for alligators.
- Fudge Shop Surprise — I had to hurry to capture this on camera, and missed the first portion, but captured enough that you get the gist. We were shopping in New Orleans, visited a fudge shop, and suddenly the workers in the shop broke out in song. It’s fun.
- First Drone Video — I hoped to have LOTS of practice flying the drone around all of our campgrounds. But I discovered that there are MANY restrictions to using the drone. You can’t fly at night. That takes out half the time. Not being able to fly within 5 miles of an airport, over a highway, or in a national park takes away about half of the geography we were in. But the big kicker is that you can’t fly the drone in any significant wind at all. Limiting flights to 10 mph or less takes out most of a season (spring) and virtually whole states, like North Dakota. And some places we didn’t have enough time, or they weren’t interesting. So out of 60 RV parks, I have only managed to fly drones in 4 of them; that’s not a good percentage. But I combined the footage from all 4, and it serves to show the differences in types of parks, from spartan to plush and from desert to lush. Hopefully I can post more of these going forward.
Be sure to give a thumbs up on any videos you find interesting. That will give me a clue at to which ones people like. What is missing so far is a collection of “dash cam” photography from the truck and the front of the Can Am. Stay tuned, I’m working on it…