Guess who has a new Honda? 244 horsepower, five speed, stability control, 4 wheel anti-lock disc brakes… tires, windshield wipers… uh… power sliding rear doors, room for 8 passengers…

That’s right, its an Odyssey. A happy mini-van. It’s got a 6 disc mp3 playing CD player, with auxilliary mp3 player jack. It has all the basics, like air bags and cup holders everywhere (15 for 8 passengers), steering wheel controls for the radio and cruise control, power windows, built-in rear window sun shades, alarm, remote entry, fold down rear seat.

We didn’t get the advanced options - we didn’t want them. We don’t let our kids watch much TV at home, so we didn’t want DVD in the van. It would be nice to have GPS (I want a handheld for my bike, these are less than $200 now) and a sunroof, but you have to get leather seats, and my wife the vegetarian said that would be kind of hypocritical (we can’t eat the cow, but we can skin it and rub it on our ass).

The van has roof rails, but didn’t come with the cross beams. We can also get a tow hitch, but the Honda hitch is another $1500, but includes a transmission and oil cooler, and installation. As for roof racks, the Honda cross beams are $150, Thule or Yakima are $210, but I’m thinking of building my own. I’m thinking the raw parts will be less than $40, and will give us enough width (I’m thinking 7 feet, from mirror to mirror) for our current roof case (Sears xcargo) and 2 or maybe even 3 bikes. Thule bike racks are like $150 each, but I found on overstock.com you can get a set of two (unknown brand) for $65.

My wife has already made full use of the van. Carting kids around and filling the back with girl scout cookies. I gotta say I’m relieved, camping is so much easier when you can fit everything. We’ve already planned at least two camping trips this year. Eventually we’ll get the tow hitch and then a popup camper.