Jesse,
Here are my notes:
http://www.qsl.net/k/kb9mwr//wapr/tcpip/rip44d.html
The endpoints are populated by the RIP routes that are received. You
can run the dameon in verbose mode, and periodically check how the
route table is being manipulated with the command "route"
As for why you can ping two machines on the same subnet, it sounds
like a conflicting route. Again what does "route" show you?
Steve, KB9MWR