drivetofive

Let’s get this year started off right with some proper automotive updates!

Some data on the blog you’re reading:  Launched in spring 2011, Drive to Five saw its all-time highest traffic in 2014, presumably because I put a lot more effort into it back then than I do today.  I was also on a crusade to get max miles out of my then-new Acura ILX as I accumulated miles in a variety of weekend excursions to share with my readers.  I posted 128 blog entries that year.

This blog saw 60,957 views in 2019 from 26,535 unique visitors.  I posted 52 times, so on average once every week.  There are 78 of you who receive an email every time I publish a new post.  You must be out of your minds.

Sometimes I wonder if “reading” is a forgotten pastime.  Consider the fact that my YouTube channel over the last few months has seen unprecedented subscriber traffic.  A video that I uploaded about my new-to-me 1999 Acura Integra surpassed 50,000 views and 600 comments in its first 12 days.  In those 12 days, the same video made me $250 in ad revenue.  That’s gas money if nothing else (but I won’t quit my day job any time soon).

This blog nets me $3 a month by delivering ads to you all.  That doesn’t even offset what it costs me to pay for the domain name rental and the 3.6 gigabytes of storage it takes to archive the 19,000 images I’ve blogged over about 9 years.  But I’m not into blogging for the money.  I’m a writer.  This is my travel journal, and even if one person reads it, or for that matter, if nobody at all reads it, I’ll still keep publishing with some sort of regularity.

A lot more people are interested in just clicking a “Play” button on their YouTube browser than actually reading a blog, but if you’re still reading this, then to you I say, “Thanks!”  Your loyalty means a lot.

While we’re on a ‘stats’ kick, this grid is a tradition I’ve kept up for 4 years now.

I drove (or my cars drove, rather, because I’ve loaned them out plenty of times) 30,403 miles in 2019.  That was down from 36,053 in 2018.  My most expensive car to maintain last year (shocker) was the rust-bucket SLX which cost me over $2,600 in maintenance.  But I got an Acura video feature out of it, and I still love driving that stupid thing around town just for the reactions.

The ILX saw 10,000 miles and the Legend coupe 7,500.  But remember that 5,600 of those Legend miles were in one single trip:  Driving to southern Florida & back in October for the National Acura Legend Meet.  If NALM stays close to home in 2020 (I’m dropping a major hint here prematurely) it might not see that many this year.

I’ll let the below pics tell the rest of the recent updates.  I’ve had so many cool guests over the last couple of weeks, including a friend named Shaun from all the way in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada.  We connected via social media – isn’t it crazy how that works?  He’s a “garage” enthusiast.  Check out his Instagram:  @gullys_garage.  I also received visits from my Legend friend Jimmy, from Gearbox Magazine’s Brian Driggs for a Podcast, from author and friend Steve Lynch, and from a California based friend named Dani who just recently moved to Phoenix.

New Year’s Eve 2020 at ‘Flannel Ball’ in downtown Phoenix with friends

A friend sent me a Chilton’s manual for the GS-R

Library is coming along.  (And the GS-R will get a blog update in due time)

I’ve been picking up some cool magazines, including a coupe comparo where the 5th gen Honda Prelude reigned supreme against 6 other cars back in the day.

This was another interesting find.  December 1993.

A full 3 model years before the SLX debuted, Automobile nailed it.  They had an article discussing the potential for Honda to market a Trooper-based SUV.

Jimmy’s visit in his pristine Legend GS 6-speed

Received a 2020 calendar from my friend Pavel in the Czech Republic

Pulled out the Integra sedan for some photos since I’m selling it

Steve from Tucson stopped by.  He spent time working for American Honda back in the early 1990s and was fortunate enough to get the keys to a then-new NSX for a cruise to the hills.  A 4×6 photo from that occasion was given to me for feature in the display case.

Ken from SFO paid me a visit too.  We went out to dinner.

And while I had the sedan out, I commuted in it today.  Nice sunrise.

My sights are on this now.  Looks like you can guess what my next 2 cars are going to be.

Here’s to another year!

This entry was posted on January 9, 2020 at 5:08 pm and is filed under Blog, Milestones. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.