Big Horn Trip -Video Review

 July 25, 2025

Now that I think I have the ability to post longer videos here via YouTube, I'll include the ones I made from my recent ride and camping in the Big Horn mountains.  Each video is just what the camera captured.  I've done some editing but feel free to fast forward.

We start off with the ride out of Billings.

The ride up to Five Spring Fall Campground,

The ride down from Five Springs.

The ride up Hwy 14A.

Touring the Bald Mountain campground.

Riding in the clouds.

Through the forest.

Passing the logging truck.

From Dayton to home. 

Recent Ride and New Technology

 July 25, 2025

In a previous entry I mention that I had a new dash cam for my motorcycle so I thought I'd make a separate posting about it and how I use it and the workflow I'm developing to put videos online.  I've written about ir previously here so I won't go into the ordering and installation here.

After initial installation and testing it was really time for a test ride.  I decided to do an overnight in the Big Horn mountains which I wrote about here and here.  I just let the camera run for the two days and figured I'd sort it all out when I got back.

The first challenge is how to get the video segments from the SD card to wherever I want them.  There are three options:

1 - remove the SD card and read it on a computer

2 - attach a USB cable to the head unit and transfer it that way

3 - use an app to do the transfer

Options 1 and 2 both required removal of a small cover in the bottom of the head unit.  The two screws are REALLY TINY and difficult to handle.  That's what I did after this short trip, but not again.  The app is the way to go but it requires the motorcycle ignition to be on and therefore, could be running down the battery.

To solve that issue, I made up an extra patch cord, spliced it to the unit's power cable near where they plug into the power block.  On the end of that cable I have a 2-pole SAE connector that I can plug into the battery tender port on the bike.  This way I can power up the unit without turning one the bike.

The next issue are the videos themselves.  Like most or all dashcams, instead of continuous recording, it records shows segments of a minute of two each, saving each one with a time and date stamp in its file name.  With two cameras it record two files, one with the suffix F and the other with R.  The only issue is that they are in the TS format, one that is not readily compatible with editing software or online posting apps.  

The easiest solution is to copy all the files to folder on my desktop iMac and convert the ones I want into mp4 files using the application called Handbrake.  It can do single files or selections of file.  It works great.

However, iHandbrake is not available for the iPad which is what I use when on the road.  Instead I can use VLC (VideoLAN) but can only do one file at a time.

After returning home, this is the workflow I have figured out.

1 - transfer all the files to my iMac

2 - Select the files I want to convert and load them into a cue in Handbrak.  These resulting mp4 files will be saved to their own folder.

3 - drag the converted files into iMovie and go through the regular editing process which can include the insertion of title, music, or whatever.

4 - load the file into my YouTube channel

5- post them on this blog

This bluffing software only allows small video, less that a minute, so I have to cut them down to insert directly.  However, if I load a bigger video into YouTune, I can use a link to it to include it in this blog.

That's it.  A fair amount of work using multiple apps to get the job do but it does work and everything, other than the hardware is free so what the heck, why not.

The ride home

July 23, 2025

The was a pretty heavy thunderstorm during the night with lots of lightning and rain.  I enjoyed it.  I woke just before 5am and read for a bit before getting outside.  I was surprised how little water was on the tent for all the rain I had heard.

I got things started and sat down to finish yesterday’s blog entry while I ate my oatmeal and had some cocoa.  Unlike the lower campground, up here there is cell service.  It’s not fast but it gets the job done.

I was able to read a KTVQ story about the semi that went off Hwy 14A not too far from where I am camping.  That accounts for the road closure I’d seen yesterday.  A few miles from where I turned for the campground, a semi going in the other direction was hauling something but I couldn’t tell what it was other than it was blue.  I guess that was the cab of the truck.  The article mentioned that road should be open.

I got things loaded up and was on the road by 8am.  I stopped fro a photo on my way down the hill.

I’m not taking many photos as I am hoping that the new dashcam while capture enough.

I rode up 14A and it is a steep and curvy ride.  The road is in pretty good shape.  Near the top I encountered some livestock on the road.

I pulled over to check out the scenery.

More cattle.

The clouds descended and the temperature dropped.  A few times I had to really slow down because I couldn’t see much ahead.  When I came to the Bald Mountain campground I turned in to have a look.  It was pretty well occupied.  I stopped near the entrance and put on a sweatshirt and got out my cold weather gloves.  It was chilly, upper-50s and felt moist.

I rode across the the to top and passed Burgess Junction where I got on Hwy 14 and headed to Dayton.  The ride down is long and there are plenty of twists.  I got passed by a white SUV but before long I caught up when it was doing 15 MPH behind a logging truck.  The truck would not pull over and there wasn’t much opportunity to pass.  

Another motorcycle came up behind me and we did this slow tour for a bit until we had the opportunity to pass.  

He went first and the SUVfollwed and the me.

A ways up we ended up behind another logging truck.  I could see the road ahead was clear and so I went across the double line and passed the SUV and the truck.

The rest of the ride down to Dayton was uneventful.  I stopped for gas and set my navigation app to take me to Pryor on the back roads.

The ride took me to Wyola and then Lodge Grass.  Along the way I shot this photo.

The ride from Lodge Grass to St. average was on a rode I’d never been on before.  IT was well worth it.  It was just beautiful.  I stopped to change out my gloves along the way.

I encountered some more wildlife.

After St. X, I rode the rough road to Pryor.  It wasn’t as bad as I remembered it but there were a few heavy bumps in the last 10 miles, going over where there used to be cattle guards.

From Pryor I headed north and went into Billings on South Billings Blvd.

I got home just before 1pm, a 5 hour ride and 203 miles.

A quick overnighter

July 22, 2025

Since I have my new dashcam installed, and figured out how to utilize it, I thought a ride was in order.  Instead of a short ride near town, I decided to do an overnighter to my favorite nearby campground, Five Springs Falls.  This site in about 20 miles east of Lovell, Wyoming.  

I hit the road about 2pm.  My plan was to ride to Dayton, WY via Pryor, St. Xavier, and Lodge Grass and then across the Big Horn mountains via Hwy 14 but I got away too late so I headed direct to Lovell.  This is a ride I have done MANY times so I just settled in, rode the slab to Laurel, Hwy 212 to Rockvale, and the Hwy 310 south through Fromberg and Bridger.  Then the long ride toward Wyoming.  I stopped for a few photos while still in Montana.

Just before Frannie, WY, I stopped for a photo at the Montana Limestone mine.  It’s a big operation.

In Lovell, I stopped to top up my gas tank.  My bike takes 87 octane and it’s always easy to find, in fact, on my recent ride through the Midwest, sometimes it was the only grade available.  In Lovell, they had 85.  I couldn’t think of the last time I saw that.  I shot a photo, looking back through the town.

At the east end of town I veer left to take Hwy 14A toward the Big Horn mountains.  There was a sign there that indicated that the highway was closed 20 miles ahead?  High?  My navigation app tells me that the turn off for the campground is 20 miles ahead so I figure that it’s where 14A heads across the mountains where it is closed.  I went ahead and rode on.

I arrived at the turn off for the campground and hadn’t encountered any indication of closure ahead.  I stopped for a few photos and a history lesson about the road.

The road up is 3 miles and very narrow and curvy.  I hope that my dash cam caught that part of the ride.

The campground is BLM and fairly well developed.  There are two sites, the lower one in a canyon along a creek below the falls and the upper one, higher up in the mountains.  The sites are nice, with picnic tables, fire rings, and graveled ground with timber borders.  With my Interagency Pass I get half price so a site is $3.50 for the night.

I wanted to camp in the upper area so rode up to the top and saw that about half of the sites were already taken.  No problem, the last one up the hill, site #17, is open as everything is first come first served.  The site is a short walk-in.  I walked back down the hill and registered then unloaded the bike and set up my tent.

Now I write this blog entry and plan to take a hike before it gets dark.

The hike was great.  The road to this campsite is the “Old Hwy 14A” and just beyond my site the road ends at a gate.  On the other side of the gate the road continues as a trail that winds up through the mountain.  I followed it for about 20 minutes and instead of continuing on the old road bed it turned.  A sign pointed out the direction.

After a bit it started downhill through a heavily wooded area and at times I wasn’t sure which way the trail went.  As it was getting late, I turned around and walked back.

I fired up the stove and boiled water for my dinner, lasagne.  Then it was a bit of reading before I fell asleep.

It was about a 120 mile day.

A Big Farkle

July 21, 2025

Having a camera on the bike is something I’ve thought about for a long time.  Being able to record some idiot prior to a crash is certainly one of the reasons but it would also be nice to record some rides.  I did do a temporary install of a dashcam that came with our Ford Focus and it did work but it kept skipping segments and I never did figure out why that was.  I suspected the motion of the bike but I quit using it as it wasn’t worth the hassle.

A few months back I looked at quite a few online reviews of dashcam systems, specifically made for motorcycles.  The features, quality, and prices are all over the place.  I sort of narrowed it down to one and then watched multiple reviews of it and decided that it was the one: Aoocci C6Pro.  I ordered it with a discount code for about $170 and finished that I’d get it before my trip in the middle of May.  

As things go, it ended up backordered, then got hung up in customs or something in Los Angeles, so by the time it came to Billings, I was already on my way to Pittsburgh.  We’d had our mail stopped so it sat at the post office until we returned.  

When I got back I opened it up and played around with all the mounting accessories and, while it came with LOTS, I didn’t have what I needed to do the install.  I wanted to install it on the ram-like ball that I’d installed on the steering stem nut.  Some people mount them above the clutch or brake reservoirs or above the dash behind the windshield but I don’t want it up that high.  The unit came with a ball mount but not with the bracket that goes between the balls.  Plus, the ball on the unit is 7/8” and the one on the bike is 1”.  Aoocci sells a mounting kits with all sorts of options including a larger ball mount and the bracket for it.  I ordered that for about $40.  Now the wait.

It took a while and it was interesting watching it move across mainland China, fly across the ocean, move through Los Angeles, and eventually to Billings.

Once it arrived I started the install.  It went well but there were lots of decisions to be made.  Where to mount the cameras?  Where to route the wires?

Mounting the head unit was straight forward.  It sits low, between the handle bars.  I can still see my dash but have to reach over it to get to my key.  No big deal.  The included remote sits on the fairing, by the glove box on the left, with some double-sides tape.

I mounted the rear camera on the bracket above the license plate light.  While it came with some screws, I used the heavy duty double sided tape.  I’ve used that stuff in the past and it works well, although it’s prudent to replace it one a year.

Routing the cable from the rear camera proved to be a head scratcher.  I tried to find a way that was easy but I ended up drilling a hole in the rear wheel well so I could get the cable into the under seat compartment.  I had to make a trip to the hardware store for a grommet which I also sealed with silicone. 

From there I just let it follow an existing cable, eventually, sneaking it between a fairing piece and the gas tank.

The front camera was mounted under the front fairing above the front fender, off to the side.

All of these pieces connect to the head unit with waterproof, socket and screw connectors.  I stashed them the best I could and used a few zip ties to keep them in place.

Prior to all of this I’d bought a fused power distribution panel and installed it under the seat.  It is wired to my tail light circuit so it is only “on” when the bike is on.  I ran the power wires from the head unit to that.

That’s my tire pump under the cloth next to the fused panel and the power box from the head unit is next to that.  There is also an inline fuse.

Once it was all connected I turned on the ignition and it booted right up.  By default it started recording right away.  Instead of the 64 GB MicroSD card that came with it, I used a 256 GB one that is supposed to record 30-40 hours before it loops and records over earlier segments.  That should be plenty.

I took a break for a day or two and then brought the bike back into the garage to finish up configuration.  To get the video out of the head unit, there are several options.  The SD card can be removed BUT it’s under a cover with REALLY TINY screws so not very convenient.  Also under that cover is a USB connection and they supplied a cable of that but, again, is not very convenient.  It turns out that it has a built-in Wi-Fi server and I ended up downloading two apps (I don’t think I need both) that allow me to access the files and download to my phone.  That should work well enough.

I also configured the CarPlay thingy which pairs the phone with the unit so I can see maps, etc.  I guess it allows music streaming and all that but I use my phone to Cardo setup for that but it does allow access to other stuff through menus without having to access the phone.  When I get that figured out it might be worth using.

So, it’s all together and ready to try out.  I plan to go out for a short ride to get gas and take a short spin outside of town.  I’m interested in how the map looks on the screen while riding and whether or not any of the wiring needs a bit of rerouting.

Very high tech.