I’m on a learning curve with “Simone,” my pop-up camper named for the jazz singer Nina Simone. It felt meaningful that I found her on my 61st birthday. Towing a pop-up camper cross country is slow travel. This slowness is one of the features I love most about this kind of travel. Slow living seems a luxury these days when everyone is multi-tasking to survive. Like the slow food movement that extolls the benefits of preparing meals from scratch, slow travel offers a chance to meet new friends and enjoy a respite from the frenetic pace of modern life.

January 2023, “Simone” purchased in Kissimmee, Florida.

Summer 2022

Last summer, I did an 8,000-mile 42-day road trip with Cleo and Nova in a rented “plug and play” Winnebago Navion Class C RV. It was a wild ride and exactly what I needed to shake up the stagnation setting in after thirty years in the same town.

July 12, 2022, Chicago

Summer 2022

July 2022, Southfork Campground, Rio Grand River, Colorado

August, 2022 Sasquatch Farm, Tennessee

August 6, 2022, Needles Outpost, Canyonlands National Park, Utah

Summer 2023

I’ll drive less on this 2,000-mile 38-day trip, staying at each campsite for five or six days. I hope to avoid tire blow-outs by traveling 65mph in the far right lane with the truckers. So far, the Curts Bluetooth Brake Controller is performing well. It’s a wireless 7-pin device that plugs into my hitch, connecting the trailer brakes with my SUVs.

Simone weighs 1600 pounds, considered light as campers go. I didn’t worry much in flat Florida about pulling her to state parks without the trailer brakes operational. However, I had just enough common sense to research the question. Thanks to the great people in my pop-up camper tribe on Facebook, I learned about this Bluetooth option for activating the trailer breaks. It’s been notably easier to navigate these mountains.

Maggie Valley, North Carolina