Our Rivians

Two Rivians. One tows, one roams.

Two Rivians live in the stable right now, and they could not have more different day jobs. One hauls our Airstream across the country, flat, calm, and completely unbothered. The other, the brand-new R2, is being built to drop the trailer and go find the trail. Same badge, opposite assignments. Two earlier Rivians got us here, scars and all, and their stories wait further down the page.

20′ Airstream Caravel hitched to the Rivian R1T at Menifee, CA, January 2025

Now · Pablo's Revenge · R1T Gen 2 Tri-Motor Max-Pack

The current truck. The workhorse.

The buyback put us into a Gen-2 R1T Tri-Motor Max-Pack, named, of course, Pablo's Revenge. Revenge for the fallen soldier in Eskobear.

18,000+ towing miles and counting. Virtually no issues. The SD → Chicago run will add another ~4,400 miles to the total.

Why we love towing with Rivian: real power, honest range, reasonable fast-charging speed, and a cabin that's comfortable enough to live in. New tech keeps rolling in via OTA, the brand-new Rivian Assistant landed just before this trip.

Motors · three (front + dual rear)
Power · ~850 hp
Range (unloaded) · ~420 mi
Range (towing 23FBT) · ~180 mi
Charging · Tesla SC via NACS · Electrify America · Rivian Adventure Network
Towing miles to date · 18,000+

20′ Airstream Caravel hitched to the Rivian R1T at Rosemont, CA, June 2025

23′ Airstream International hitched to the Rivian R1T at San Marcos, CA, July 2025

Pablo's Revenge, hauling the 23FBT.

Now · Rivian R2 · the adventure rig (not a tow vehicle)

The other one. Built for adventure, not towing.

The second Rivian in the stable could not be more different. We have been with the Rivian R2 since the start: a day-one, minute-one reservation from the Laguna Beach unveiling, and one of the first owners invited to convert that reservation into an order. We ordered ours in June 2026, demo-drove one in San Diego, and delivery is expected within weeks.

Ours is an R2 Performance in Launch Green on the 20-inch all-terrain wheels, and the plan is to build it for adventure: camping, off-roading, and getting deeper down the trail than the Airstream rig can follow. It will not tow the Airstream, the R1T keeps that job, so the R2 rides here as the lighter, more nimble rig, the one we take when the trailer stays home.

We will document the R2 build the same way we document everything else: real config, real miles, real off-grid camping. Follow along as it lands and we start kitting it out.

Model · Rivian R2 Performance
Color · Launch Green
Wheels · 20" all-terrain
Role · camping, off-road, adventure (not towing)
Reserved · day one, R2 unveiling (Laguna Beach)
Status · ordered, delivery expected soon

Read the full R2 build → Order a Rivian with our referral link →

Rivian R2 in Launch Green with a roof-top tent and 20-inch all-terrain wheels, our overland adventure build

Our R2 overland build: Launch Green, roof-top tent, all-terrain. Real photos when it lands.

Before · Pablo Eskobear · R1T Gen 1 Dual-Motor Max-Pack

The named truck. Also the cursed one.

The replacement for the R1S was meant to be the tow rig: a Gen-1 R1T Dual-Motor Max-Pack. Sitting in the driver's seat trying to settle on a name, my son pointed out that the Rivian community affectionately calls the white paint "cocaine white."

So we should name it after the Cocaine Bear, he said. Looking up the bear's nicknames, one of them, honestly the best one, was Pablo Eskobear. It stuck.

Pablo Eskobear had a hard run. The first rear motor failed and the truck went into limp mode, then stopped driving at all. Rivian loaned us another R1 while it was in service, that's why a few other Rivians (including the R1S you'll spot in some Caravel-era photos) show up in the gallery.

When Pablo came home, paint damage from the service incident sent it to a body shop. The shop tried the paint match a couple of times; each attempt either landed wrong or made things worse. Then the second rear motor failed.

Rivian agreed to buy the truck back.

The 20-foot Airstream Caravel hitched to the white Rivian R1T at sunset in Kingman, AZ on Route 66, August 2024, the silver trailer catching the warm desert light against red rock hills behind

The Rivian R1T pulling the 20-foot Airstream Caravel up the red-rock switchbacks above Sedona AZ, September 2024, sandstone formations stacked on the canyon wall behind

20′ Airstream Caravel hitched to the Rivian R1T at Irvine, CA, September 2024

Pablo Eskobear, on the trail.

First · Rivian R1S Gen 1

The one that started it all

The first Rivian was an early R1S. It was a great truck, until a driver turned left on a red light and hit the front driver's-side wheel head-on. The whole thing happened at under 10 miles per hour. No body damage to speak of, just a scuffed piece of trim, but the wheel and the suspension below it absorbed the entire impact: $17,000 in damage. Nobody expects a low-speed bump to do that.

Rivian agreed to repair it in-house instead of sending it to a body shop. The repair took a while, and through it Rivian had us in a loaner R1T. By the time the R1S came back we had fallen for the truck. We sold the R1S and moved to an R1T of our own.