rockenrolla
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Hello everyone! This is my first road trip post so I hope y'all enjoy it. Fair warning though, nothing but highway, city, and small French countryside roads in this post. So if you're expecting gear-banging, fender-crunching, off-roading photos and stories then I'm sorry to disappoint. You'll have to wait for me to post my XJ for that.
Anyways, to begin with a little backstory is probably necessary. I'm active duty (ch)Air Force stationed in Germany but originally from Texas. Being the last year of my overseas tour, the girlfriend (also AD) and I decided that we should finally check Paris off our to-do list. I'm not a huge fan of big cities but I am a huge fan of art, architecture, and history so we agreed that not only would we drive the 4 hours from our base to Paris, we would drive an additional 4 hours to Normandy, France so I could see the the D-Day landing sites and other famous WW2 monuments in the area.
Jeep and specs- 2018 JL Sport with 3.6L/8speed on stock tires. Only "mods" are Weathertech floor mats and a 13inch antenna. We did a total of 1164 miles averaging 19.5mpg on the autobahn usually around 70-75mph. The entire driving time for this trip was 21.5 hours from leaving my driveway to parking back in my driveway 4 days later. Without further delay, here we go.
I never actually got far enough away from the Eiffel Tower to get a good photo of it but here's a few Paris shots.
Outside the Louvre.
Some random girl...
The Winged Victory
And finally, my girlfriends favorite statue. Not sure why, maybe its the details in the hair and dress.
After 2 days in Paris we moved north to Normandy, staying in a small town called Bayoux. From there we spent 1.5 days exploring the area starting first on the western coast at Mont Saint Michel. A small island right off the coast that's only accessible by bridge during low-tide. Unfortunately you can't drive up to it unless you either live there or have a special pass.
The final day is when we saw the D-Day monuments and landings.
I have about a 1/2 gallon of sand I'll be dividing up sending to a few friends as gifts. When i was stationed in Okinawa I regret not ever being able to visit Iwo Jima so I made sure to get a collection of sand from here.
The monument reads, "The Allied Forces Landing on This Shore Which They Call Omaha Beach Liberate Europe-June 6th 1944."
Finally a Jeep photo.
Strangely enough, Omaha beach looks exactly like a beach. If there wasn't a monument every 500 feet, you would have never known that over 2,400 casualties had happened there just over 75 years ago on this same sand.
Taken in front of the Operation Overlord Museum, which is actually closed from January to March if I remember.
Pointe Du Hoc Ranger Monument. Where members of the 2d Ranger Battalion led by Lt Col James Rudder, a Texan, scaled up the 100ft+ cliff side to destroy important targets that could have crippled the D-Day landings on nearby beaches.
Two plaques; one dedicated to the 2d Rangers and one from the State of Texas, dedicated to Lt Col Rudder who led the mission.
Overall, I'm extremely happy with how well my Jeep handled the long drive across France. It has fairly low mileage so I didn't expect anything to happen but you never know on long road trips. My Jeep has now traveled through its 4th country and I look forward to having it see a few more by the time I leave Germany later this year. I hope y'all can make a trip across the pond to see the world as it really does open your eyes towards how other live, work, and enjoy life. Thanks for reading my trip post!
Anyways, to begin with a little backstory is probably necessary. I'm active duty (ch)Air Force stationed in Germany but originally from Texas. Being the last year of my overseas tour, the girlfriend (also AD) and I decided that we should finally check Paris off our to-do list. I'm not a huge fan of big cities but I am a huge fan of art, architecture, and history so we agreed that not only would we drive the 4 hours from our base to Paris, we would drive an additional 4 hours to Normandy, France so I could see the the D-Day landing sites and other famous WW2 monuments in the area.
Jeep and specs- 2018 JL Sport with 3.6L/8speed on stock tires. Only "mods" are Weathertech floor mats and a 13inch antenna. We did a total of 1164 miles averaging 19.5mpg on the autobahn usually around 70-75mph. The entire driving time for this trip was 21.5 hours from leaving my driveway to parking back in my driveway 4 days later. Without further delay, here we go.
I never actually got far enough away from the Eiffel Tower to get a good photo of it but here's a few Paris shots.
Outside the Louvre.
Some random girl...
The Winged Victory
And finally, my girlfriends favorite statue. Not sure why, maybe its the details in the hair and dress.
After 2 days in Paris we moved north to Normandy, staying in a small town called Bayoux. From there we spent 1.5 days exploring the area starting first on the western coast at Mont Saint Michel. A small island right off the coast that's only accessible by bridge during low-tide. Unfortunately you can't drive up to it unless you either live there or have a special pass.
The final day is when we saw the D-Day monuments and landings.
I have about a 1/2 gallon of sand I'll be dividing up sending to a few friends as gifts. When i was stationed in Okinawa I regret not ever being able to visit Iwo Jima so I made sure to get a collection of sand from here.
The monument reads, "The Allied Forces Landing on This Shore Which They Call Omaha Beach Liberate Europe-June 6th 1944."
Finally a Jeep photo.
Strangely enough, Omaha beach looks exactly like a beach. If there wasn't a monument every 500 feet, you would have never known that over 2,400 casualties had happened there just over 75 years ago on this same sand.
Taken in front of the Operation Overlord Museum, which is actually closed from January to March if I remember.
Pointe Du Hoc Ranger Monument. Where members of the 2d Ranger Battalion led by Lt Col James Rudder, a Texan, scaled up the 100ft+ cliff side to destroy important targets that could have crippled the D-Day landings on nearby beaches.
Two plaques; one dedicated to the 2d Rangers and one from the State of Texas, dedicated to Lt Col Rudder who led the mission.
Overall, I'm extremely happy with how well my Jeep handled the long drive across France. It has fairly low mileage so I didn't expect anything to happen but you never know on long road trips. My Jeep has now traveled through its 4th country and I look forward to having it see a few more by the time I leave Germany later this year. I hope y'all can make a trip across the pond to see the world as it really does open your eyes towards how other live, work, and enjoy life. Thanks for reading my trip post!
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