It’s beautiful weather so it has to be a motorcycle day. One thing I’ve thought about getting for my bike is a dash cam. I have one in one of my cars and made a mount that allows me to move it from one car to another so all I needed to do was to install a mount on the bike and give it a try. The mount is a microphone clip/hanger like one on a CB radio. The camera is a bit large compared to ones made specifically for motorcycles but as a test I thought this might work OK.
The only place that really works to mount this is inside the windshield so I taped the clip on with the double-sided tape, adjusted the lens, and it appeared to work just fine with the cable going to the USB port in my tank bag. It’s not ideal as it hangs a bit crooked but this is just a test. I took it out for a ride and when I looked at the videos it was clear that this wasn’t going to be a solution. It shakes quite a bit, due to the looseness of the mount, however, I can capture still images quite easily and they look pretty good.
Am I going to stick with this? Probably not. I need something that is less distracting. I could see over it just fine but I am aware of its presence and sometime think about it rather than the road. It’s like all the farkles I see guys put in their bike like GPS, phone mounts, tire pressure monitors, etc. that make the bike look like an airplane cockpit. Too distracting. I think that they make bike cameras that mount under the front fairing and record to a box mounted elsewhere that take little interaction. I think this might be something worth looking into.
Here are some shots from the cam that I grabbed as screen shots on my computer. I write about the ride below them.
Now a stop in Lavina.
A comfort stop at a road maintenance pull off.
I arrived at Barber and pulled down the dirt road between a few of the only original buildings in the town, an old store and a Victorian house. The church is located behind a modern house on the left so I turned into what looked like their driveway and stopped by the church. I was immediately greeted by a very friendly chocolate Labrador.
I got my film camera out and after taking some meter readings, started taking some shots of the structure. I neglected to take any with my phone. But here’s it is on film.
About that time, a truck pulling a boat pulled onto the road and turned into the driveway of that house. A couple got out and glanced over at me so I walked over and greeted them. The woman was immediately quite friendly and they were both interested in the camera. I told them that I still shoot film and had always wanted to take some shots of this church which I’d seen many times from the highway. I also mentioned that I’d like to come out with my stool and my sketchbook and do a drawing of it. She mentioned that she does art and has painted it in the past. We chatted about art and before long she mentioned that she’s started taking classes at MSUB. I said that I just graduated from there with a BFA a year ago. She exclaimed “You’re the one. I know about you.” She told me that as the sole “senior” student they had told her about me and said she’s be the new senior student in my absence. What a small world.
We chatted about art classes, traveling abroad with the school, and all sorts of stuff related to that and in the course of the conversation she mentioned that she does upholstery work. I told her how I’d gotten into that to do interiors on my old cars and she took me inside to see her machine (a really nice one) and some work she is currently doing. Looks very, very good.
We went back outside and chatted some more with her husband and they told me about the church and the former town. It was a railroad town until the railroad left and so did the residents. Aside from the church, the only three structures left are the old store, the abandoned house, and the remains of the bank’s vault. Here they are:
We said our goodbyes and I pulled the bike around the corner and shot the remaining frames of film on the store and the house.
The ride back was great. I’d had a headwind all the way out and now, with it behind me, I just set the cruise control and relaxed. I stopped in Ryegate to fiddle my phone and Cardo unit and then rode back the rest of the way I came.
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