The hitch goes back on: a 582-mile marathon to Kansas City
After five nights basecamped near Fox Lake, the return leg opens with a marathon. A wash at Rochelle's Hub City Car Wash, the World's Largest Truck Stop at Walcott, a turn south through Mount Pleasant and small-town Missouri at dusk, and a late I-70 run on free Rivian chargers to a sleep-at-charger night at Independence. The day's Mount Pleasant to Columbia leg is the longest single tow run of the whole trip.
582.4miles
~13 (towing, marathon)drive hours
Rochelle IL Tesla Supercharger (S 7th St)first charge
Rivian Adventure Network charger, Independence MO (sleep at charger) tonight
Weather: Cool and clear out of the Midwest morning in the low 60s, warming into the mid-80s across Iowa by mid-afternoon with a 10 to 13 mph north wind
The day's numbers, route, photos, and video below↓
Day 19Blue hour on Main Street in Paris, Missouri, the quiet kind of stop the back roads give you.
The day, by the numbers
Miles driven582.4mi
Cost per mile15.2¢ / mi charging
Towing efficiency1.25mi / kWh582.4 mi · 465 kWh
Energy465kWh
used · 552 kWh charged across 6 sessions
Peak charge rate218kW
Wind12mph NMostly tailwind
Temperature86°F60 – 86°F range
Peak elevation981ft↑ 3,580 ft↓ 3,580 ft
Avg speed46mph · 12.7 hr moving
Map loads with JavaScript. Each day page also lists every stop in text below.
Photographs
Day 19 in pictures
1 / 16All cleaned up at Rochelle's Hub City Car Wash, the polished Airstream gleaming before the run to Iowa.
The Airstream came off the friends' pad and back onto the ball after five nights parked. Trip A read 3,250.0 mi leaving camp; the towing profile is back on (6,500 lb, about 1.3 mi/kWh, 249 mi at a full pack).
family
Goodbyes near Fox Lake
A last photo with the friends who put us up for five nights before pointing the rig west. Five nights of untethered day trips, family, and the lake, and then it was time to go.
scenic
A snapping turtle crossing guard
A big snapping turtle had stopped dead in the middle of a busy country road, traffic moving fast both ways. We passed it, then pulled the rig onto the shoulder about a mile down, and Eric rode Diana's electric scooter back to stand guard. No touching a snapper, just making sure cars saw it and gave it room until it finished its slow crossing to the far grass. The electric scooter earned its keep keeping one more critter off a bumper.
First towing charge of the return leg, the Rochelle Supercharger on S 7th Street (330 S 7th St, 10:21 AM). 73.1108 kWh in 30 min at $0.40/kWh, $29.01 + $0.23 tax = $29.24 (Invoice 3000P0314560460). Pulled away at 195 miles of range, 84 percent, the dashboard showing the towing efficiency back down around 1.3 mi/kWh now that 6,500 lb is behind us again.
Right after the charge, both rigs got their first proper clean since the detail back in Cherry Valley. The truck rolled through on Car Wash mode in neutral (Pet Comfort on for Mission, Porcupine Tree on the speakers), and the Airstream pulled into the Super Bay, the high-clearance self-serve stall with ten feet of headroom that swallows a 23-footer with room to spare. Rochelle wears the nickname Hub City for being a rail hub where the BNSF and Union Pacific main lines cross, and the wash carries the name.
I-88 and the two-lanes west, grain elevators and GROWMARK tanks out the window, the Airstream tracking steady behind. The country opens up fast once Chicago is in the mirror.
Down through the Quad Cities on I-80, the green-and-yellow John Deere leaping-deer logo big across a glass facade with a combine etched into the windows. Tractor country. A controlled field burn smoking on the horizon a few miles on.
The Iowa 80 Truckstop at Walcott, the self-styled World's Largest, and it earns the name: acres of diesel islands, the Iowa 80 Kitchen doing homestyle cooking, and the free Iowa 80 Trucking Museum next door full of restored rigs. We plugged into the Tesla Supercharger out back (755 W Iowa 80 Road) for the big towing fill, 134.3177 kWh in 1h27m at $0.35/kWh, $47.01, and walked the museum while the pack came up.
West of the truck stop toward Iowa City, a whole house riding a flatbed, OVERSIZE LOAD banners flapping, the kind of thing you only catch out here in the wide lanes.
Turned south off the I-80 corridor to charge at Mount Pleasant in southeast Iowa (1700 E Washington St, 4:45 PM): 93.3675 kWh in 1h23m at $0.35/kWh, $32.67. Trip A read 3,544.4 mi (1.32 mi/kWh cumulative, 2,667 kWh to date), Trip B 212.3 mi for the day so far, 712 ft elevation, 70°F.
Across the state line into Missouri in the evening light, US-61 south, the rig pointed toward a Rivian Adventure Network charger and, eventually, west on I-70 for Denver.
A blue-hour pause on the brick main street of small-town Paris, Missouri, the rig under the streetlights and a flag hanging still. The quiet kind of stop that only happens when you take the back way.
Rolled into the Columbia RAN just before 10:40 PM after a 470-mile run, Trip A reading 3,720.9 mi. 108.0129 kWh in 41 min, complimentary RAN charging (would have been $38.88), then back onto I-70 west toward Kansas City.
A late I-70 push west to the Rivian Adventure Network charger at Independence, arriving around 1:18 AM to a sleep-at-charger night. 130.1437 kWh delivered before the session errored at 91 percent (about 53 minutes of real charging); a 12.57 kWh top-off the next morning finished it. Two more free RAN charges, and the rig pointed west for Denver.
Day 19All cleaned up at Rochelle's Hub City Car Wash, the polished Airstream gleaming before the run to Iowa.
Towing segments this day
The charge-to-charge data, leg by leg.
Every towing leg logged today off the Rivian dashboard, with its elevation
profile. Open one for the full per-segment data: efficiency, energy, grade,
wind, temperature, and battery state of charge.
330 S 7th Street, Rochelle IL 61068 (250 kW DC). First towing charge of the return leg. 73.1108 kWh in 30 min at $0.40/kWh, $29.24.
Tesla
Walcott IA Tesla Supercharger (Iowa 80 Truckstop)
755 West Iowa 80 Road, Walcott IA 52773, the Supercharger at the World's Largest Truck Stop. The big midday towing fill: 134.3177 kWh in 1h27m at $0.35/kWh, $47.01, run long while we toured the Trucking Museum.
Tesla
Mount Pleasant IA Tesla Supercharger
1700 E Washington Street, Mount Pleasant IA 52641 (4:45 PM), after turning south off the I-80 corridor. 93.3675 kWh in 1h23m at $0.35/kWh, $32.67. Trip A read 3,544.4 mi (1.32 mi/kWh cumulative, 2,667 kWh to date), Trip B 212.3 mi.
Video
Watch Day 19 video
Keep scrolling, photos + the day below↓
Social signal
Follow Day 19 beyond the page
Photos, short video, charge-stop notes, and the little roadside details usually land on social first. The full route stays archived here.
12 receipts, app screens, pedestal displays, and Rivian dashboard readouts. Click through with the arrows; tap the tile to view full size.
Trip A 3,250.0 mi leaving camp, the return leg's odometer.Towing profile back on, 6,500 lb, 1.3 mi/kWh, 249 mi at a full pack.Rochelle session detail, 73.11 kWh in 30 min for $29.24.Tesla emailed invoice, $0.40/kWh plus tax, $29.24 at Rochelle.The big Walcott fill at the truck stop, 134.32 kWh for $47.01.Walcott session detail, 134.32 kWh in 1h27m, right by the Iowa 80 Trucking Museum.At the truck stop, Trip B 111.0 mi towing at 1.12 mi/kWh, elevation 773 ft.Mount Pleasant, southeast Iowa, Trip B 212.3 mi for the day at the late-afternoon charge.Trip A 3,544.4 mi at Mount Pleasant, 1.32 mi/kWh and 2,667 kWh into the trip.The Mount Pleasant receipt, 93.37 kWh in 1h23m for $32.67 by the Hy-Vee.Trip A 3,720.9 mi at the Columbia RAN charger, 470.9 of them on the day.Trip A 3,832.4 mi at Independence, 582.4 of them on the day, the marathon done.
