Thanks so much Sleepy - I'm really honoured by your comments.
If anyone is interested here is some history:
The video was filmed with a Panasonic DV tape camera I bought in '98. I avoided buying a video camera until you could buy digital ones. Unfortunately the image stabilisation on the Panasonic was rubbish, plus after I got salt water into the electronics in New Zealand in '99 I could no longer access any of the extra features like that anyway . Ironically I didn't realise that the Canon S3-IS that you can see Sally using at one point produces much better video than that old DV camera, and the image stabilisation is fantastic. If only I had realised at the time. In comparison this video footage was taken recently with the Canon - as you can see some of it is driving (me driving and filming at the same time ) and the image stabilisation works well: video
So I came back from Namibia with about 6 full DV tapes. I then imported the video digitally using the Panasonic's Firewire interface and used Sony Vegas to edit it down for family use - producing a 1 hour (OK, overly long) video of the whole trip, complete with nice music from various sources (movie sound tracks, Ry Cooder, etc.).
Recently I thought about adding stuff to YouTube, so I thought I would go back and edit down the Namibia footage.
Problem 1) I have the file with all the Sony Vegas editing data, but I couldn't find any of the source files I had imported - I must have deleted them to save space. I think I still have the tapes, but I would have to re-import them so the editing points would be wrong. Plus I gave away the computer with the Firewire card in .
Problem 2) All the nice music is copyright so I can't use it on YouTube. Because I don't have have the source files I can't just go back into Sony Vegas, delete and replace the music track and re-render it.
So I found an old MPEG rendering of the 1 hour original edited video, re-imported it into Sony Vegas and then edited it down, deleting the sound tracks from any sections that had music on. I then had to locate some appropriate royalty-free music on the internet and paste it in to cover the gaps in the sound track.
I've learned my lesson - DON'T DELETE YOUR SOURCE FILES !!!
Steve.
'07 Ford Ranger XLT Supercab diesel + '91 Shadow Cruiser - Sky Cruiser 1
'92 Suzuki Samurai 4x4 1.6
'09 Fiat Panda 1.2
'10 Citroen DS3 1.6 turbo
the general plan... miss the tornados.... be home before the first of June
We are heading south thru Jimmy Carter country to Tallassee... and he coast... getting away from the middle America E/W interstates and the tornado alleys.
We'll be heading west and then down toward Brownsville... then follow the border to NM... North as far as rocky Mtn NP and then head east thru Nashville toward the end of May... we have never been inside the State Capital.
I'll be posting some as we go...
PS... the camperport did great in the storms, no damage that I can see... best $3500 I spent last year. I highly recommend it.
Looking forward to the ride. Bring lots of snacks. I like snacks....
Bill
Well Bill... do you like "Mud Bugs"... or as some might call them "Crawfish" or "crawdads"
They are in season, and best when Cajon seasoned.
I may find some other good snacks before we get to cajun country... but by Feburary of each year my thoughts go to rice paddies and crawfish. Boiled corn on the cob, potatos, and crawfish in the shell.... even the preacher has a beer or 6 to wash down the spicy heat of the crab boil.
Then there's the crawfish gumbos with andouille sausage and maybe a little chicken, the Etouffee's, the rice... maybe a little crab corn chowder, some Crawfish bisque.... enuf, enuf, I'm starving just thinking about them.
... a little of everything that is available at home.
3 months requires much more planning... "vacation supplys" of medications... the way we travel there won't be a place to have mail order prescriptions mailed to.... and we don't know for sure where we'll be.
Last day of preparation.... many of you have experienced this...
We need a vacation
the truth is... this won't be a 3 month vacation... it will (hopefully) be a series of mini-vacations linked together by our continious travel.
For today... the weather man had promised high winds, dark skies, and cold. We had snow at 51ºF yesterday...and we're having snow now at 41ºF... of course its not sticking... just more of the weird winter.
We might be getting to meet some new people... we've had a few invitations for lunch or a driveway. We try to meet up if possible, we know how much we enjoy the people that visit us when we are at home.
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. Ironically I didn't realise that the Canon S3-IS that you can see Sally using at one point produces much better video than that old DV camera, and the image stabilisation is fantastic. If only I had realised at the time. In comparison this video footage was taken recently with the Canon - as you can see some of it is driving (me driving and filming at the same time 
) and the image stabilisation works well: 
.
