Honda Ridgeline: One year ownership report.

One year ownership report.

Like many others, the pandemic caused us to place more value on privacy and space than we had had earlier.  While I personally always wanted a single family home, one within walking distance of train stop was out of our reach and the wife needed that in order to get to work.  After 8 months of social distancing, WFH, and dealing with apartment complex kids having screaming/rock-throwing contests at all hours, buying a single-family house further out became more realistic(as long as we managed expectations).

            House acquired, one rare instance where the SO needed to head to the office I would drive her to a metro stop in the mornings and pick her up in the evening-sometimes we would just carpool back together if I was in DC for grad school that day.  The situation wasn’t that bad, but we determined that we would like a second vehicle.  I wanted a truck, SO vetoed a half-ton, so when the Maverick was announced with the hybrid train and high gas mileage, I ordered it in June of 2021 and awaited delivery.

            And waited.  And waited.  I never got a confirmation email, but I did call Ford who verified the order was in the system.  The date the order went in was about when I would expect, the day after I went to Ted Britt Ford in Chantilly placed it. Summer turned to fall and fall turned to early winter.  Not a whisper of a build date, all while I saw build-date emails plastered all over the Maverick Truck subreddit, often with my exact trim, package build, and color.  During this time my 2012 Fusion w/170k miles on it became more and more cranky.  While at a WV State Park in January 2022, the battery decided to die and standing in the snow coming down a local saw me trying to jumpstart it with one of those battery charger things and got us up and running.  SO said they would be onboard with just getting something off the lot at this point.

On to the Ridgeline

By January 2022 the car market was well and truly overheated.  Half-tons like F-150s were still off the table, but Rangers and Ridgelines were the two I really wanted anyway. I didn’t consider the Taco or Frontier, both of which are somewhat antiquated and more like dedicated work trucks/off-roaders.  This was gonna be a home depot crawler and road tripper, in terms of workload.

Anyway, saw on autotrader a white 2019 Ridgeline, RTL-E trim, with about 17,000 miles on it asking about $38k.  Website helpfully informed me that this was a few percentage points below KBB. Went out to the dealership, test drove, came back, asked how much it was, salesman just rotated his monitor and pointed at the listing “this, plus doc fee and tax”.  Doc fee was the same that Ted Britt had quoted to me for the Maverick lo those many months ago.  Carfax report was clean.  In-and-out, 2hr adventure including financing. 

The NART

            The 2019 Ridgeline is the first iteration of the second generation Ridgeline.  In contrast to the most recent refreshed Ridgeline, which had a external facelift to make it look more aggressive in addition to a new transmission, it unabashedly sticks to it’s Honda Pilot origins.  An extraordinary amount of components are shared between it and the Pilot, to the point that the front end looks makes it look like the popular family SUV dead on.  Sitting in my Father-in-laws Odyssey a lot of components are shared there as well, with the obvious difference being the Odyssey has the newer “push button” transmission vs the traditional shifter.  The 3.5 liter, 280-hp engine is shared across the Odyssey-Pilot/Passport-Ridgeline lines.

            The heritage of the Ridgeline has caused it to get a reputation of being Not A real Truck, or a NART.  Unibody construction seems to be a key characteristic of NARTs, as does not sufficiently aggressive-looking front ends.  I have had coworkers tell me that the Maverick is more truck than a Ridgeline even though both are unibody because (1) Ford makes it (2) It looks more like one.  Same coworker will say they don’t like the current generation of Ranger because the front is “too rounded”, which I have interpreted to mean not boxy/aggressive enough.  I’ve seen criticism of the interior of the Ridgeline, calling it too close to SUVs because of comfort accoutrements, but given we are now in the era of $100k trim half tons, methinks they protest too much.

            Regarding trucking capabilities, the Ridgeline has AWD system that sends most of the power to the front wheels.  A composite bed comes standard, rather than a metal bed with a spray-in liner.  Payload on the RTL-E trim is about 1450lbs, and towing with the 7-pin is around 5000lbs.  The Truck bed is about five and a half feet long, tailgate up.  In other words, this is not a work truck per se, but it will do nearly anything for most people. The Gen 2 refresh has a “Honda Performance Development” package that, as far as I can tell, mostly adds fender flares and a decal.  An off-roader this is not.

            The bed is shallow, and as a result it is easy to access anything you put in the back. The in-bed trunk feature, and the trunk is big enough that you can fit a small human in it, is probably the standout feature of the Ridgeline.  When I had ordered the Maverick I knew I would be putting a tonneau cover on it; I am now unsure if I ever will for the Ridgeline given the incredible trunk.   Friends/family who knock the Ridgeline for being a NART sort of fall silent at seeing the trunk.  There’s also an electrical outlet in the bed!  I haven’t used it though, so I will not be commenting on it beyond its existence.

The Tailgate both drops traditionally and swings out.

The trunk is fantastic and adds a lot of utility.

The Road-tripper

            The Ridgeline has excelled.  I’ve put about 6,000 miles on this since January, the bulk of it being trips around West Virginia, to the Eastern Shore, and to northern New England. My daily commute is about 20 miles total, and on days I must go into DC I usually take the Fusion. The road-trip mileage is around 27mpg, even in hilly places like New England and West Virginia.  This is 7 miles less than the lifetime average of 34mpg in my Fusion, so not all that bad.  During my commute it floats at around 21mpg, and when the weather is cold long trips are more around 23 mpg.
            The ride is smooth.  Having driven a eCVT for the past 10 years I had forgotten what a traditional transmission is like, so it is noticeable when it shifts gears, but otherwise it tends to ride better than my elderly Fusion.  The driver’s position is high enough that you have excellent visibility, while not the ungodly front ends of some trucks that are taller than me.  While noticeably wider than my Fusion, and in fact despite being a marketed as a quasi-compact truck it is wider than some midrange truckers like the Tacoma, it’s easy to maneuver around.  An odd thing we noticed; the cabin is noticeably darker at night than the Fusion.  This may be due to the nature of a truck cabin, the fact that the rear windows came tinted, or a combination.  Keeps the cabin cooler in the summer at least.

            Over the winter break we stayed at a cabin in West Virginia, and it handled like a dream in the icy conditions and -17F temps that the car’s thermostat was telling us was going on outside.  Climate control was such that it didn’t seem like it could possibly be that cold out.  The main think that popped was how quickly the psi dropped for the tires, which are factory Firestones, but nothing could be done for that.

Concluding thoughts
            We haven’t had any problems with the Ridgeline so far, and “Truck-things” wise it has seen a lot of use as a Home Depot/Nursery crawler, piled high bags of mulch/dirt being no problem.  The interior accoutrements make it a dream to be in.  Ultimately, a truck this size with these capabilities is what I really wanted, even if I had ordered a Maverick Hybrid, and I’m glad for it.  When my in-laws test drove the Maverick and said that it plain sucked and felt cheap, of course it’s cheap it’s a cheap truck, they rated the experience in my Ridgeline much higher.  It’s a pity the Ridgeline isn’t more popular, and Honda’s solution is to make it look more aggressive, but dems the breaks in truck culture.

Coronvirus update 4/9: Switch Boxing

So, it's been awhile since the last post and I thought I might as well do an update.

By now most places of work in Virginia have voluntarily shutdown or done work from home where possible.  Our household is fortunate to be in the work from home camp; we don't seem to be in the same immediate danger that so many other Americans are in.  So, count our blessings I guess.

One of our first world problems though is the closure of gyms.  Not a huge problem, I essentially only go to our apartment complex's gym to use the heavy bag, but it's starting to wear.

So, I ordered Fitness Boxing on the Nintendo Switch.  

It is...okay.  It's basically taebo, for those of us who remember Taebo.  You use the two joycons to move your hands.  You have free workouts and daily workouts.  The daily workout is based upon your history, weight, etc.

It'll make you sweat, which is better than just sitting and doing nothing.  The problem is, just like with Wii Sports of yore, if you really wanted to you could sit and do nothing.  The feedback seems to be based on how hard you can jerk the joycon. 

Certain aspects are immensely frustrating, I gave up on trying full body ducks/sways and now just jerk the joycons in that direction when it comes up on the feed.  The process does not reward moving your whole body; you keep on missing it if you try said full body ducking.

Is it worth it?  Well, I basically measure video games the same way I measure movies.  If I end up putting the same number of hours into a video game that I would have in going to the movie theater, it's a good deal, and I've hit it.  Do I think I'll continue to do this daily once the gym opens up again?

No, I don't.  This has been useful for exercise other than rucking around the wilds of suburban Northern Virginia, but that's pretty much it.  Glad I got it, well past the "hours spent" cost, but this seems like only a little above shovelware, especially given the price.  This should have been part of a Wii Sports-like bundle.

Sega Genesis Mini unboxing

We had Nintendo consoles, and only Nintendo consoles, in the house growing up.  But when I was in late grade school/early middle school I lived on base at Camp Lejeune, and down the street was a good friend who lived in a Sega household.  Inbetween getting up super early to watch ExoSquad and wandering around the woods along the New River, a lot of time was spent playing Sega games.

So, when the Genesis Mini dropped to about $50 a few months back, I thought, why not?

The Mini is a gen-1 replica, and the box reflects that.  There are 40 Genesis and Sega CD games on the console, plus two that weren't released in North America(Darius and Tetris).  There are a few notable absences, such as Sonic&Knuckles and Mortal Kombat.  My understanding of the situation is that the hangup is Michael Jackson-composed music on S&K.




Like the Classic Nintendo consoles, the Mini is small.  Sega had put out a Genesis replica a few years back that was full size, and the net effect was a feeling of cheapness with the extremely light for it's size device.  Taking the Nintendo route of shrinking it to fit the smaller mainboard was smart.

As you can see the included controllers are the three button models rather than the six button ones. In my opinion they feel well built, although my wife's opinion was that they felt cheap.  They also fit better in my hands than the classic Nintendo controllers do, no doubt a reflection of Sega targeting an older demographic back in the day.



The gameplay itself is fantastic.  Sonic, Earthworm Jim, Castle of Illusion, etc. All hold up well,a testament to the quality of those first gen 16-bit games.  One that didn't hold up well was Street Fighter II.  I played this all the time on the SNES growing up, and the speed of the action compared to modern fighting games aged poorly. 

All in all, I think that this is a great little console, just like the Nintendo replicas.  I think that if you are going to be playing games that take advantage of the 6 button function, like street fighter, you should consider getting one of the 6-button controllers from Retro-bit's line. 

Coronavirus Commentary: Store situation March 1 2020

Having hiked and camped a great deal in the past, there is a good amount of overlap in stuff I have and "prepping" material needed in an extended emergency.  That said, despite the amount of batteries, hiking stoves, water purification etc. with the ongoing emergency I opt to hit Home Depot, REI, and the supermarket last week to add some cushion.

I headed to Home Depot on Thursday, picking one I knew to be relatively slow.  I had a few goals in mind:

• 5 gal buckets for storage
• Contractor bags
• Disposable gloves
• sanitation wipes
• safety googles
• N95 masks(filed under "would be nice", I already had a box in the closet)

The store was about as empty as I expected it to be on a weekday afternoon, which is good because it's exactly the reason why I picked it; there were a couple 5 miles or so away that always seemed slammed.  The mask/respirator aisle was essentially bare; folks had worked though it beforehand obviously.  Everything else was easy to find, although it looked as if folks had been raiding goggles as well.

Out of curiosity I went over and it looked as if all the tyvek suits had been bought.


After Home Depot I swung by the vet to buy up some kibble for the animals, it was still well stocked.  Then I headed to Safeway.  The goals at Safeway were:

• Rice
• beans
• lentils
• crackers
• multivitamins
• more toilet paper
• (generic)sudafed
• knorr packs 
• dehydrated mash potatoes

The last two are sort of an influence of planning for long distance section hiking; cheap easy to make calorie dense food.  I was able to get everything but Sudafed there.  I also got some kielbasa and stuck it in the back of the freezer.  Interestingly, the rice and beans in the regular "white people" section has clearly been worked over, but not on the international foods aisle.

All of this was done on Thursday, and the places were fairly empty of customers.  

At REI the list was shorter; 

• Butane
• water storage

We were able to get both.  We also ended up getting a Harmony house backpacker's kit as well, think a mix of dehydrated veggies you can toss in Ramen or something to add to it. While the place was empty of customers at the time and fairly well stocked, the cashier reported that there had been a steady flow of folks buying in preparation of a pandemic. We then proceeded to the ABC store, which was about as busy as you would excpect on a Friday.

Today(Sunday) we went to Harris Teeter and, again, it was about what we expected for a mid-Sunday afternoon.  The rice & beans had been really worked over, interestingly the bottom shelf of 5+lbs bags were the least touched. I went ahead and grabbed another bag and more mash potatoes, as well as some dehydrated beef & chicken bouillon and instant ramen.

The main take away is that, in the DC area, regular supermarkets do not seem to be seeing the traffic the news is reporting on the West Coast or at plkaces like CostCo.  That isn't to say people aren't doing anything about it; we saw evidence that more dried goods were being grabbed than usual,  but it may be we're in a spot where not as many people are yet panicking.

At home out our "quarantine pack" looks something like this:



Not very Doomsday Prepperish, but just fine if there is a two week quarantine.

A lot of people are finding even this to be crazy talk, which I find odd.  If you can afford it, a few hundred bucks now is better than dealing with it later.  Don't forget your animal friends in your prepping.

Refurbished Treasures: NES and SNES classic unboxings.

I missed it when the NES and SNES Classics, small ROM-boxes produced by Nintendo of their Famicom-platformed consoles, hit the market a few years back.  With a limited run, the systems are difficult to find new-in-box, and for most you have to scour eBay or similar websites.

Well as it turns out Nintendo of America sells refurbs on their website.  I have heard excellent things about their refurbished products, and going into some sort of nostalgia stage I decided to go ahead and order them.  I chose the cheapest shipping option and the arrived from Redmond after about 2 weeks.

The box came with anti-tamper tape

The shipping box came with anti-tamper tape, and had two smaller boxes inside-one for each system.  They were well backed with individual wrapping for all the components.  You'll note that the boxes themselves are just cardboard with stickers on them; you won't find retail packaging with these.

The first thing I noticed after opening the packages is that the consoles themselves are small.  I had known that they were going to be mini-sized, but the included controllers are about the width of the consoles.  My tiny, gnome-like hands hold them just fine.

The NES only comes with one controller.  This is perhaps not as unreasonable as it sounds; the majority of NES games, when they were two player, tended to be sequentially rather than concurrently.  In addition I was surprised to see that the port was not the original controller ports.  For some reason I had thought that they were going to be, even at the point where I was scouring the Internet for a NES Advantage.  The cables are stupid short, something that I hadn't noticed back when I was in middle school and this was in a TV in my bedroom.  Picking up controller for the first time in going on 30 years was shocking; the controller was tiny compared to modern consoles which seem to have older gamer sensibilities in mind.

The SNES uses the same ports as the NES, although those are hidden behind actual faux-SNES controller ports.  I'll be sure to see if I can use a SNES controller on the NES.  Again, the cables are short but the controller feels a lot better.  Could be because I  played it in high school more, and muscle memory is more forgiving.  As with the NES controller, the build quality was high.  These replicate an early SNES controller without the engraved top.

Looking over the consoles and controllers, the quality is astonishing.  It seems as if the Internet Stories about the quality of Nintendo refurbed products are true, if I didn't know they came returned I wouldn't have known they were pre-owned.  I searched for blemishes and scratches and couldn't find any, and the build quality was very high.  I'm a little reminded of Internet Stories were someone orders a blemished firearm from someone like Palmetto and they can't find any visible blemishes.

So far I have to give a big thumbs up to Nintendo of America for their work at their refurbishment center.  I realize it could be that these were returned un-opened, but I gotta wonder if NOA wouldn't have sold them as new if it were the case.

Your stealth campsite likely isn't.

I was listening to the  Astonishing Legends podcast, episode 155, which covered an alleged alien abduction at Devil's Den State Park in Arkansas in the 70s.  The details aren't important, I'm not here to judge on the veracity of this, I haven't even read the book of the account.  I'm one of those "wish things were real but accept they probably ain't" kind of guys.

No, my problem was that the story-giver, Terry Lovelace, gave some...questionable statements in the course of the Interview.  Not related to extra-terrestrials, per se, but the more mundane parts of the narrative.

The story is that he and a buddy stationed at Whiteman AFB abruptly decided to go camping one week.  No problem there, I've done it, and I think it strikes people more often than you think.  Rather than heading to a nearby location,. they decide to drive  down to Devil's Den State Park in Arkansas.  Terry implies that there's a odd drive on the part of his friend to go there, as if there was an external force at work.  I don't know about that; I have certainly felt a need to visit a location out of the blue before and I don't think that external forces were at work.

Terry and "Tobey" head on down, decide to stealth camp instead of getting a permit at a campsite, have an experience and leave. By the time they get back to Whiteman, when they check into the hospital the base command had already been informed about missing airmen because they left all their crap at the site.

This is where it gets questionable to me.  Mr. Lovelace expresses doubt that park rangers could have found their stuff so quickly, as he thinks the fire would have been out before dawn. This is part of an implication he has of a government cover-up in the narrative.  This doubt is very problematic.  It shows a breathtaking lack of understanding how easy it is for locals familiar with an area to immediately pick up a change.  Especially as Mr. Lovelace and his friend were able to park the truck close by.  In other words, it's likely a known so-called stealth campsite for people who think they are being clever.  To my mind, it is very believable that employees, or even someone going on a hike themselves and coming across the site, found it quickly.    Mr. Lovelace admits a lack of outdoors experience, but that the podcasters accepted this at face value represents a problem with the Fortean Phenomena Crowd: Complete credulity. 

This doesn't seem like much, but colors much of the rest of the interview.  Now that he established that there couldn't have been "casual" discovery of the site, it makes the OSI interviews more menacing.  After all, he and his bud showed up with burns and dehydrated and left a bunch of crap in a state park traced back the USAF.  Of course OSI is interested.  He describes a 50-something Major, which is a shocking age for that rank for someone on active duty(unless they were a mustang) as bullying him and making sure he was unaware of his rights.

Again, the implication is that there is a cover-up of some kind.  To me it's something else; it's a OSI major who has done little with his career and is a pompous ass who is overstretching.  Officers are assholes, news at 11.

To be clear, I am not rendering judgement on the experience.  I've had enough "crazy crap happening in the woods" to not want to slight him.  Buuuutttt...not being cognizant of how camping works and general, basic outdoorsman stuff is often what brings these experiences into doubt.

"Moo-cows!"

Driving back from Shenandoah this afternoon(Daisy was laying down in the passenger seat asleep) two cute grits in a Ranger drove up next to me at a stoplight. They caught me checking them out so I said "Daisy! Moo-cows!". Dog jerked up and started out the window, grits make "awwww" face. I may need to keep my sisters dog on permanent retainer.