Travelogue

In order to avoid RV skiers from getting too excited about the prospect of slope side camping, let me preface this writing with the sad news that Mt. Brodie is no more. They closed a few years back and with that, to my knowledge, ended any chance of slope side RV camping on the east coast. If there is another place like this, I would certainly like to know about it.

At one time, Brodie had a thriving seasonal campground, but by the time we discovered it in 2000, it was already on the decline. Too bad. What a great way to have an inexpensive winter vacation home. We parked our motorhome in an electrical site right alongside the J.F.K. trail. You could literally ski right from your motorhome.

Mt. Brodie was a really fun mountain--a little old-fashioned with their rickety wooden chairlifts, but a real classic. As the name implies, Brodie had a very strong Irish theme, with trail names like J.F.K, Mickey's Chute, Paddy's Promenade, etc. Even the lifties had brogues. This place must have been something on St. Patty's Day. I heard that they even sprayed the mountain green.

Unfortunately for us, the warming trend from the previous day continued and we faced a full day of skiing in the rain. The boys didn't seem to care, but I'm not a big fan of rain skiing. Herb and I skied for awhile and then went back to the warmth and dryness of our motorhome and watched the wet skiers go by out our back window. We gave the kids walkie talkies and they headed over to the half pipe on the other side of the mountain. I think they really loved the independence of going off snowboarding on their own while their wimpy parents hung out in the RV.

Brodie Mountain was the site of my most unpleasant shower experience. After skiing all day in the pouring rain, I was very much looking forward to a nice hot shower and some dry clothes. By now we were 6 days into our trip, and the water tanks were near empty--no more showering, however conservatively, in the RV. Fortunately, Brodie had bathrooms with showers, just a short walk down the hill from our campsite. As soon as I could, I headed there. I can't even begin to describe how wonderful that hot water felt. Feeling warmed and refreshed, I reached outside the shower curtain for my towel, only to realize that I had not brought one. Now, I was in quite a predicament. I had two choices, and neither of them was very pretty. One was to try to position myself under the hot blowing air of the hand dryer, but the possibility of someone coming in and seeing me in this bizarre act ruled that out. The only other choice, and the one which I used, was to dry myself with my wet Gore-Tex jacket. Now, as many of you know, Gore-Tex does not absorb water, but rather repels it, making it possibly one of the worse choices of a towel that you can imagine. I returned to the RV crankier than I had left it. However, at least Herb and the boys were entertained.

That evening I was introduced to Pelonis, Herb's new portable heater (see Tips for RV Modifications/Winter Camping). I greatly enjoyed waving my cold tootsies in front of him as he blew hot air on them. I think I fell in love with Pelonis that night and started referring to him as my Greek God.

Description

Ski resort in the Berkshires of Massachusetts that has sadly closed. At one time this ski resort had RV slopeslide camping--a rare find on the East Coast.