You guys are spelling it wrong!

The Ford Escapes do not have a CVT, they have an eCVT.
Both are "continuously variable" but are two different beasts.

A CVT uses belts between two beveled, or varius diameter pullys.
A CVT is like a 21-speed bicycle, but with more than 21 combos.

An eCVT is a planetry gear set. There are no belts or pullys.
The "e" stands for electronic.

In the eCVT all gears are always in mesh all the time. Even in "Neutral" which I put in quotes because it is a pretend neutral. This car has no neutral in the traditional sense.
Neutral in the Ford with eCVT is just an unpowered coast, that's it. The car has no "Low" gear either. As mentioned, the gear selector is only a joystick to a computer. There's no mechanical link, except to the parking pawl when you put the car in Park.

To prove the shifter is only a joystick, put the car in REVERSE when moving forward at 55 miles per hour. Absolutely nothing happens. The computer sees this as an unreasonable request, a "human error" and ignores it. I'm not full of it, and this will not harm your car in the slightest. Hundered of people have tried this, and some Ford spokes-persons used to do this when they Demo'd the car for the media when it first came out in late 2004.

Also, not many owners live in the Rocky Mountains. I do. I have noticed the car will also go into L gear mode ( which is only for stopping, not pulling ) if I ride my brake pads too long coming down a grade. The car predicts my brakes 'should' be getting hot by now, and converts to engine brake even in D gear position.

As another example, on said hills, going downhill at 70 miles per hour I tried to put the car into "pretend neutral" so I could coast even faster. Well, the computer also saw this as an unreasonable request, and kept the power alive at this speed. N, by computer, is only supposed to cut all electric power to the motors, and allow them to "freewheel".

The "e" means an electric motor, the generator, which is the sun gear controls the engine speed. Since this transmission has 3 parts, one part can do whatever it wants, irrespective of the other two. The traction motor is the outer ring gear, and the gas engine is the carrier gear for the planets ( the "orbit"). The planet gears are just there like rollers to transfer power.

This is a good visual. http://homepage.mac.com/inachan/prius/planet_e.html

For example, you can have any engine speed at any wheel speed, if the generator speed changes. You can have any generator speed at any wheel speed if the engine speed changes.

You can only "lock up" the transmission and have engine speed "locked" to wheel speed if you lock up the generator first. This could happen, but generally is not the case.

It is very simple mechanically, but difficult to explain in words!
In summary, it is normal to have "RPM all over the place".
Happy driving!

-John