South through Missouri, then west on I-70 across Kansas to Denver for a concert with friends, over the Rockies, and south through Utah's national parks before the final Mojave crossing. Same ~300-mile daily ceiling, same charge-stop discipline. Different rocks.
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Actual route Planned ahead
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 mi ~13 (towing, marathon) first-day-back
Independence, Missouri to a rest-area night in Arriba, Colorado: 523 towing miles across Kansas on I-70, six fast charges from Tesla, IONNA, and Rivian, a dead-battery 0 percent arrival at Goodland, and the Welcome to Colorful Colorado sign at golden hour.
300 mi ~6 (towing) route-70
Woke at the Arriba rest area on I-70 with a friend parked behind us, an Airstream (BRN 6624) and its red GMC. Bacon and eggs in the camper, then west off the plains and north into the foothills toward a Rocky Mountain basecamp at Lyons.
135 mi ~3 route-70
Leave the Airstream in Lyons and run the Rivian up into Rocky Mountain National Park. We landed both timed entries this time, the Bear Lake Road corridor and Trail Ridge Road, so the day does the famous lakes and the high alpine tundra before heading back to the river camp at night.
130 mi ~5 (truck only, no towing) rocky-mountain
Pack up the Lyons basecamp and tow south to a new base in Golden, then unhitch and run the truck into Denver for a 5 PM visit to Meow Wolf Convergence Station, a day ahead of the June 6 show.
90 mi ~1.5 towing, plus a solo evening run into Denver elevation-climb
A free Denver day, then the show with the Electric Duo
30 mi ~1 concert
Over the Rockies, Eisenhower Tunnel, Vail Pass, Glenwood Canyon
245 mi ~6 with elevation + stops charging-math
Into the red rock, Arches by sunset
110 mi ~2 national-park
Two parks, no towing
60 mi ~1.5 local photography
Red cliffs and slickrock on the way to the quietest national park
150 mi ~3.5 charging-math
One of the most beautiful drives in America
120 mi ~4 with stops (winding mountain road) photography
Skip Zion, drop down I-15 to the red sandstone of Valley of Fire
220 mi ~4 state-park
Closing the loop. One long final push across the Mojave.
430 mi ~8 home
Vehicles wider than 7'10" or taller than 11'4" need an NPS escort through the historic 1.1-mile tunnel, and the 23' International is over the width limit. We're bypassing entirely via Hurricane and SR-9. Adds ~65 miles, removes a real risk.
A knife-edge ridge of road with thousand-foot drops on both sides and no shoulder. Stunning, terrifying, slow with a trailer. Don't stop on the road, use the marked pullouts only.
11,158 ft summit, then a long downgrade through Vail and Glenwood. Trailer-brake controller dialed in before the descent; charge to 90% at Frisco so we have headroom for the regen on the way down.
