silver falls – Riveted

Last Day at Silver Falls

Laura Domela — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 21:34:47 +0000

Tomorrow we're heading to the first Airstream rally of the season (did someone say "sogfest"? It's being held in Silverton, at Silver Spur RV Park (full hookups, meeting rooms, laundry, the whole shebang). The snow is almost completely gone now here at Silver Falls State Park (probably because it's been raining solid all night and all day).

(Another shot using still shot mode on the GoPro from Kevin's hexacopter)

(Posted by Laura)

Hexacopter Ride over Silver Falls Campground

Laura Domela — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 15:29:38 +0000

I took the hexacopter out for a video mission today. I flew it around the sides of Silver Falls State Park Campground. Laura took a couple of photos of it in flight, and I also posted the video of the aerial tour of the campground area below.

I am gradually getting the hexacopter setup tuned to make better video – adjusting the flight computer settings, getting rid of vibrations, stabilizing the images, messing with the camera mount. It's getting better each time.

The next step is to mount a video transmitter on the hexacopter so I can fly it by watching the video signal on the ground (using video goggles, which are the propeller beanies of the new generation. I'm gonna look SO stylish!) That kind of flying is called "First Person View" or "FPV". Apparently it's difficult to set up and to master flying that way. I'll report back – or I'll post pictures of a crashed hexacopter, or I'll tell stories of how it flew away into the sunset never to be seen again.

Then, after FPV is working, I plan to install a stabilized video camera gimbal underneath. That should significantly improve the quality of the video and photos we can take with this thing.

(Posted by Kevin)

From Champoeg to Silver Falls State Park

Laura Domela — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 22:21:21 +0000

Today we headed for Silver Falls State Park, outside of Silverton, Oregon. It snowed and slushed and sleeted this morning at Champoeg, and just as we were thinking about packing things up to head out, it cleared and our drive to Silver Falls was so pretty. Apparently overnight they got a bunch of snow.

We're almost there, and the road was still looking pretty good. Mostly the snow was melting off of the trees and just blapping onto our truck as we drove in.

We got to the campground and the loop that was open had been plowed, and there were maybe 5 spots that had been plowed as well. No one here but us and the hosts.

We chose this spot:

I made us some lunch while Kevin prepped some baby back ribs to go on the Traeger.

Yes, in the snow…we are cooking ribs.

I'll probably make some kale and some sweet potatoes to go with 'em. Kevin's out flying the hexacopter over our setup to get some more aerial video, and I'm sure he'll be posting that later on (I just saw it fly over the back skylight!), as well as info about his super special best-I've-ever-had ribs recipe.

(Posted by Laura)