This trip is starting hard...

I had forgotten how awful the wireless is here. I just spent two hours laboriously uploading two very short videos, only to have them be lost to some glitch--probably rebooting the motel's server when they came in. The staff tells me there is no fast wireless in town. Hard to believe.

I'll retreat to stills, and put things up when I get wireless that works.

It is a good thing my trip is long, as the clouds are offering only brief periods of sunshine. I went out to Niagara Springs, where the underground rivers flow perpetually. Even the still uploads are very slow. This from a really nice video:

 

The I put the drone up over the Snake river nearby.

 

 

 

The complex in the picture is their fish hatchery.

 

More to come! Only stills, though. Sigh.

 

 

 

It's a loooong way to Tipperary...

Tipperary Corners, that is. After eight hours on the road, I stopped briefly at this segment of the Snake River just East of Twin Falls. It was a bit windy, and I was in no shape to fly the drones. Better to get a night's sleep before flying.:

 

The River has many overlooks, rapids and waterfalls, so it is a rich place to explore. Remembering my trip two years ago, http://www.divexprt.com/HDRphotography/Idaho.html I knew there were a lot of drone subjects all along the river.

 

 Just have to get out and drive, because they are scattered fifty miles either side of where I'm staying..

 

I'd better get at it...

 

 

Oh, boy. That video clip just took forever to upload. The motel's wireless is quite weak, even early in the morning when nobody else is up.

 

I may have to show very short clips, and more stills. Oh--first I have to go out and get the material!

Flying with the hot air balloons is good practice...

...for some tricky flying I have to do next month in Idaho.

When you fly drones, you either fly visually by looking at the drone, or (if it is far away or behind something) piloting by the camera's view displayed on your Ipad. Now start shooting a moving target, and it gets tricky. After all, one doesn't want to scare the balloon's passengers or crash into the big moose.

First, however, we perpetual adolescents must be entertained by playing the burners:

Think of it as a Wurlitzer organ--with lights...

I've already put lots of clips of the balloons being filled and taking off (see earlier posts) and  http://divexprt.phanfare.com/6956381  so I'll concentrate on those of maneuvering near the baskets.  This morning there were three balloons. Captain Gary hustled his into the air first, and drifted away fairly quickly.

I had to get on the other balloons now!  Captain Ron was piloting the second balloon to get off, and didn't mind the drone buzzing his ship:

 

Captain Casey had a wedding party. a pleasant way to celebrate, on a gorgeous, calm flying day. Good luck to the bride and groom!

 

 

A very worthwhile practice session!

 

Of course, flying a thousand feet over water from the platform on the far right of this webcam feed across and down to the waterfall on the left will be challenging. At that distance, I won't see the drone and do the entire round trip by piloting the camera    http://shoshonefalls.tfid.org/live.htm

 

The best water flows are in June or July when they open the dam upstream. I tried to hit that on my last visit. They kept broadcasting radio spots that said: 'We'll be opening the dam any day now,' but never did. 

. http://www.divexprt.com/HDRphotography/Idaho%20Trip%202014/ShoshoneFalls/ShoshoneFalls.html   

September is late, but still pretty if I can get close to the main flow.

 

 We take what they give us...

Another fun morning with the hot air balloons...

Trying to get in as much drone practice as I can before some trips in September, I dropped in on the balloon flyers early this morning.

They began, of course, setting up the gear and testing the equipment (see my YouTube film on the entire process at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_iHl3mDILXU

Love it when they test the burners!

 

Now the second set!

 

 

When Captain Casey's  balloon took off, I tried to get close to see both the happy clients and the firing of the burners in flight!

 

 

These sure are fun!

Seeking sunny spots...

The clouds settled in, and the light values suffered. Sometimes, one part of town would have an open area of blue sky, while another would be socked in. There is a nice rock formation called Kachina Woman, at the entrance to beautiful Boynton Canyon.  http://www.divexprt.com/HDRphotography/Sedona/6RedRockSecretMountain/RedRckSecretMtn.html

I'm flying the Inspire from down by the resort you see in the valley below. This is when a drone really confers huge advantages. Taking my videos this way sure beats climbing all the way up there...

Once I had maneuvered the drone out on the sunny side of the formations, the color values improved.

 

There is a community on the Dry Creek Road with the colorful name, 'Lizard Head Estates.' You understand the rather odd name as you approach...

 

 

Bell Rock is on the South side of Sedona, where the clouds are most persistent. I could never get really clear sky, so I looked for times when a thinner cloud layer was over the formation. Beggars can't be choosers...

 

A family with children expressed a lot of interest in the Inspire, so I videoed them as they began their hike up to the base of Bell Rock.  http://www.divexprt.com/HDRphotography/Sedona/3BellRckCourtHseButte/BellRckCourtHseButte.html

 

 

As with Kachina Woman, it is much easier to fly to the top than to climb up there...

 

 

Oh, for some really clear skies! Still, having a blast working on drone-flying skills!

 

 

 

 

 

Day 2 in Sedona...

Moving swiftly because the weather forecast is ominous, I raced around Sedona today to video some unusual targets with my drones. Not only is rain in the forecast, but today was plagued from my old nemesis on my Canada trip--smoke from big fires.

This formation, Chimney Rock, is quite near my motel, so I went there first thing in the morning and put the Phantom up:

 

Then I went to Back O' Beyond Road and put the Inspire drone up to video the morning side of Cathedral Rock:

Taking advantage of some morning sunlight, the next target was in Upper Sedona--the Wilson Mountain region:

 

On day I, I stopped by the Midgly Bridge on my way South from Flagstaff, but the wind was too strong for the drones. Today the wind was pretty weak, so I put the Inspire drone out over the cliff to view the bridge and Oak Creek Canyon from the air. Note that the formation known as Steamboat Rock sits on the hilltop high above the bridge.

 

 

We see it above us as soon as the drone lifts off:

 

 

 All of the traffic coming into Sedona from the main East-West Highway 40 passes this point just North of Sedona:

 

 

 

Yes, I know. It's only a bridge.

 

 

OK, enough bridge traffic. When I was here a few years ago, I went up Schnebly Hill Road to take some shots back at the formations which tower above the town. I guess there's been some heavy rain (and no road repairs) since then. Oh--and I only put up this short clip, but there are miles of this...

 

 

That's the price you--er, your long-suffering car, pays for scenery like this:

 

 

 

Off for more flying, if the weather forecast is wrong... 

Another adventure--in Sedona, Arizona!...

Driving from Vegas to Sedona, one can punish oneself by diverting via the Meteor Crater near Winslow. I covered the crater from the Visitor Center at the northern end a few years ago. http://www.divexprt.com/TravelWndrsWorld/5MeteorCrater/MeteorCrater.html

  This time, I went to the far (southern) end, where an abandoned gypsum mine sits right below the rim:

The drive on those desert roads isn't hard, and the gypsum mine is a good launch site for the Inspire drone: I flew it for several minutes, so this is a very brief clip from the flight:

Driving from Flagstaff South through Oak Creek Canyon, we go over the Midgley Bridge. I wanted to fly the drone, but the wind was up in the canyons and the light was from the wrong direction:

 

One of the beautiful spots in Sedona is the chapel of the Holy Cross, whose design was by an admirer of Frank Lloyd Wright.The Chapel is built in an alcove of huge sandstone cliffs, a gorgeous frame for the design. I wanted to fly the Inspire here, but was originally denied permission by two of the volunteers who protect the site by monitoring the visitors.

After I explained to them that my flight was purely non-commercial, they very kindly let me launch. Again, this is a short clip from a long video that I'll edit when I get home:

 

Sedona tests an interesting theory about both settings like this valley and, say, zoos. In both cases, we sacrifice a small number of attractions by surrounding them with visitors and/or residents. The hope is that this proximity and publicity will generate stronger support for preserving all the others.

 

In Sedona, we have towering sandstone formations dotting a large landscape, with roads, homes and even highways everywhere between them.

 

 

In the next few days, I'm hoping for clear skies and lots of flights. The Red Baron bids you a temporary adieu...