Wednesday, August 12, 2015

Summer vacation is over - back in Port Orford, OR again





Aerial panorama of Port Orford from my DJI Phantom 3 Pro quadcopter


After a couple of months in Long Beach, Washington and a week in Winchester Bay, Oregon, we returned to our "Western home" in Port Orford several weeks ago.  Our early summer vacation is over.


Our "home" park...Port Orford RV Village


                                                                                   Port Orford from the north


Immediately following our return we put in some volunteer time at the Cape Blanco Country Music Festival.  Juanita and I were stationed at the entrance to one of the festival campgrounds, although the word "campground" is not very descriptive of the dusty, miserable field that we directed people into.  We spent our entire time fielding complaints and talking visitors down from anger and high drama.

Juanita has spent some quality time with her quilting friends in town and I have taken advantage of the beautiful summer weather to make some photos and videos with my DJI Phantom 3 Pro quadcopter.  I just posted this video on YouTube last evening...






A few long time friends have visited during the past few weeks.  Full time RV traveler Judy, along with her daughter and a couple of grandkids, joined us for lunch at the Crazy Norwegian's last week and Texan visitors Mike and Sandy visited for several hours Saturday afternoon.  After some good conversation in the RV park, we gave the Texas tourists a quick view of Port Orford and had another fine meal at the Crazy Norwegian's.  Hey, what can I say, we like that place!


Mike took a good photo of us with our furry companions at a nearby ocean overlook........




The weather has been fantastic since our return with daily high temperatures mostly in the upper 60's and nighttime low temperatures in the mid to upper 50's.  The wind has been fairly light for this time of year, except for a couple of days when high inland temperatures have drawn stronger gusts to the coastline.  We had a couple of fairly warm days here as well with a high of 85 degrees.  That's somewhat unusual for the area, but it does happen from time to time.

We will be very active in days and weeks to come.  Juanita has several quilts under construction and plans to attend a class at the local quilt store beginning later this month.  I will make more videos and photos from my flying machines and look forward to the upcoming salmon season, which should begin on the nearby Coquille River late this month or in early September.

We'll check back in with you all again soon.............................


6 comments:

  1. Gordon ,another great video of Port Orford ,so wish we were there fell in love with the area.I also follow Mike and Sandy seem to be a nice couple .Have enjoyed there Alaska trip.HUgs to you and Juanita hope we meet again some day .Bob in Md

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    1. Thanks Bob....we hope to find you out and about one of these days as well.

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  2. Wow, I am impressed by the stability of your videos... Its as if you were on a stationery platform.... With the absolute calm of the waves, I perceive it was a really good day for flying....!

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    1. Howdy Rod....The latest version of the DJI Phantom is extremely stable, even in a good breeze, with 20 or more GPS/GLONASS satellites keeping it in position. The 3-axis brushless gimbal also keeps the video very steady.

      There was a slight breeze on the Sunday morning when this video was recorded, but I have had it out in winds over 20 MPH with the same stability. This UAV is pretty much the ultimate sky tripod

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  3. Gordon, great video "Our Town"... have you figured out how to reduce the sensitivity of the Azimuth control so it's not jerky. Looks like you have. I have the gimbal sensitivity reduced, but haven't figured out the azimuth or the forward/reverse. Videos look better without the jerky controls of course, which many have not learned. Smoky here so not as much flying recently.

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    1. Thanks Newt. I have lowered the yaw gain somewhat and lengthened the left stick. The knurled part of the stick can be screwed outward and locked by a second nut under the top part. A longer stick REALLY helps slow the yaw.

      You can also lower the gain on the right stick. I keep mine at about .50.

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