Mid-Eastern France: There and Back Again

*** Cross posted from another board****

My normal group that I go offroading with decided to go for one last camping trip this year, and planned it for this weekend, Friday, Sat. and Sunday. There were 6-8 of us planning to go on this trip a few weeks ago, and we bounced many different ideas around about which direction we wanted to go, and what countries to visit. By the time Wednesday of this week rolled around, it appeared as though I would be making a solo trip as most of the guys were either tied up fixing vehicles, work related stuff, or just plain didnt want to camp in the cold wet winter in Europe. All of which I understand, but I wasnt going to let it stop me, especially since I had already taken Friday off from work, and had the "ok" from my wife about going. These opportunities are rare....

Thursday at work, I did some searching on where I wanted to go, and decided to just make it a short trip over into France. Since I was going solo and into an unfamiliar area, I decided to hit the designated camping spots if at all possible. This was harder than I initially realized, since it is now so late into the season, most places were closed for the winter, especially the farther South I went into the mountains. I decided that my first stop would be Bannes, France, in the Champagne-Ardenne region. Basically, in the middle of nothing, and I was fine with that. I would drive down to this spot on Friday, camp friday night, then head back in the general direction I came until I got to my second spot of the trip, Neufgrange, France in the Lorraine region. Also, in the middle of nothing.
The purpose of this trip was simply to "get out", do a little exploring of an area not well known for much, and test out my camping set-up. Just a last hoo-rah for 2008 if you will.

Loaded up the Jeep Friday morning, and had make one pit-stop before I officially got underway. I snapped this picture in the parking lot of a "baumarkt", which is similar to a Lowes, Home Depot, or large hardware store. I needed to stop here to get a new clip/pin that holds on my sway bar discconects. I lost one while wheeling a few weeks back, and figured it would be a good idea to have the sway bar hooked up, especially with all of the weight I added on the top of the roof rack. Found what I needed, hooked up the sway bar, and was ready to roll.



I checked the forcast before leaving, and it was calling for "spotty" rain showers, with a possible thunder storm moving through on Friday night. No problem, this would give me a good opportunity to see how water proof my tent and awning was...

Just a few spots along the way. This was at a parking area where I stopped to stretch my legs, and eat a packed lunch. Certainly looks like rain in my future...

This is pretty much what it looked like for my whole trip. Rolling hills, open fields, and high winds with low cloud cover. The perfect European Winter day.









I finally made it to my first destination, Bannes, France. Like I mentioned, I was going to be utilizing camps grounds for my stops. Although this one was like a ghost town, it was open.

First camp site, all set-up:











More camp site shots:





Inside the tent, with the LED light strip working like a charm.



The kitchen in night mode:

On the menu for Friday night:
Jack Daniels Honey Teriyaki marinated beef tips, cooked with sauteed onions
Chicken and herb wild rice, courtesy of Uncle Ben's
Onion Baguette, topped with Lurpak butter (Hey... I was in France)
Coke for a drink, supercharged with Jim Beam.
Mmm Mmm Good!



After an outstanding meal, flawless camp kitchen operation, and decent chef work, the rain started.... and I mean it started.... and it never stopped until I left the next day. I had to lower one corner of the awning to let the rain water run off so it wouldnt pool up and destroy the awning canvas. I also closed up the kitchen, and head upstairs to the "living room".

Since the weather was crappy, and it was cold to boot, I decided to watch a movie, and enjoy the heated space thanks to my catalytic heater.

A little Bourne Ultimatum anyone?



Having the laptop was great for movies, luckily I had my 12 volt to 120 volt inverter and was able to run the laptop on the power cord instead of just the battery. My computer battery is pretty old, and only good for about 45 minutes.

The next morning, I awoke to rain. Lots of rain. Everything was thoroughly soaked outside, but I was high and dry inside the tent. I slithered out of the warm, dry tent into the cold wetness that could be called nothing less than miserable.

I made the most of it anyway, and had breakfast. Once again, compliments of the camp kitchen.

Ham, pepperjack cheese, and grilled onion omelet, a few pieces of baguette with butter, and some OJ.



I packed up the Jeep while it was raining constantly, hating life every second of the way. It was nasty to say the least. I was honestly contemplating going home instead of heading to my second scheduled stop, but then I thought WWEPPD? What Would Expedition Portal People Do? So after loading all of my rain soaked gear, I forged on for my next destination.

One of many random little French villages that I passed through.



More open road...



Finally arriving at my second destination, I was pleased to see a nice calm lake near the camping spots.



Another shot of the lake as I drove in.



I arrived at this place around 4pm. It was not raining, and appeared to be clearing up a little, but the grounds were completely soaked. I managed to talk the owners into letting me set up on the edge of the water where a HUGE pile of asphalt was, on a section that had been spread out with a tractor. It was nice and flat, and better yet it didnt have any pools of water from the rains. They agreed after realizing I was not in a "caravan" as that is what they are used to seeing.

The second camp site:



The local French folks think I am a bit "odd" having a tent on my roof. The sad part is my kitchen was as well equipt as some of their motorhomes.
The kitchen ready for another round:



On the menu for Saturday night:
Herb crusted chicken, with a little Asian flair.
Asian salad with sweet sesame dressing, dried cherries, and fried wanton things for croutons
Medditeranean couscous
more French baguette
and yet another superchared coke.

Yes, its a bit jumbled with foods from all over the place, but it was excellent none the less.



French wild beasts were surounding me while I had my dinner. They were hungry, and agressive (also know as feral cats). After I got back from my shower, I realized left the rear hatch open on the jeep. I went to the back to close it when two of the cats jumped out of the back of my Jeep. I almost had to take another shower after that to say the least.



Up to the living room for another show. This time it was a more proper adventure movie...:

A great nights sleep, with no rain! Woke up around 8am, and made breakfast.



Scrambled eggs w/ham, bacon, toast, and pancakes. A hungry mans breakfast. I am used to cooking for more than one and didnt want to waste any.... yeah. Thats my excuse.

On the road back home...





The only casualty of the trip was my oil guage in the Jeep. The sending unit must be clogged, because it was going haywire.



It was a great trip all in all. It would have been nice to not have quite a smuch rain, but I did manage to make a list (longer than I would hav elike) of things that need to be fixed, modified, or purchased to enhance my camping trips for 2009. It never ends.

Thats all folks!

Very cool James!

When you get back stateside and we meet up you'll be doin the cooking! :laugh3:

What awning is that?

Hey John, you got a deal, and I am serious.

The awning is an ARB/Camping Labs/whatever else they are calling them now. Its the same one used by all. It works really well so far...

Thanks! ~James

Your sending Unit grounded out.

Time for a new one.

man you eat better on the go than i do at home!

thats a nice jeep, and it looked like you had fun!

Wow that is some luxurious camping without having an rv! Thanks for sharing the meals, some great dinner ideas to try out.

Sounds like a good trip, and I do like the "truck-top tent" idea.

Question - got a better pic or two of that centre-dash switch panel I can just see? I like the look of it, and I may want to know how you did that so I can adapt it to something I'm thinking...

im going to france in febuary...I cant wait

Is there anyway I can get the plans you used to build your camping cabinet setup?

Next time you plan on doing a trip like that drop me a PM. I'm 4 hours south of you in Zurich.

DrMoab, yeah I figured. I had to replace the same thing on my other 96 XJ that we keep back in the states. Thanks for the confirmation.

Swamprat, yeah I eat better camping than I do at home also...LOL. Good food while camping is kind of my thing.

Cnickgo, Thanks!

5-90, thanks! The Roof Top Tents have been around for a while. They are just getting popular in the states, but have been used in Africa and Australia for quite a while. It is a good feeling being up off the ground dry, and away from critters (plus it kinda has a tree house feel that we never truly outgrow)

Here are a few more pictures of the dash panel, its all I have. Let me know if you want a specific picture or info.







redneckboarder, hope you enjoy it. Europe is awesome, we have lived here for a little over 3 years now. There is a lot to see....

bushwacked, there are no plans. They are all in my head. I can show you some pictures of the build process if you like, or get you any measurements you need, but there are no drawings. Here are a few build shots:















Hope this helps, if you are serious about building one, I did a write up as I built mine that may help even more. It has even more pictures, and some other info. Here is the link: http://expeditionportal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=17530&highlight=stumptacos+camp+kitchen

Thanks guys, ~ James

Vince said:

Next time you plan on doing a trip like that drop me a PM. I'm 4 hours south of you in Zurich.

Click to expand...

Vince, for sure we should get something going for a trip. I am up for a trip down to the "big mountains" in the spring. Switzerland is beautiful!

~James

I didn't see the AV install in the centre (replacing the headunit) earlier - very nice!

Have any "in-progress" pics of that? Once I get the garage cleaned out (and get that 1990 chopped up and dismembered...) I'll have my 88 in for a major refit, and I'm liking that idea...

Glad to see that you like your stay here in Europe! France is such a great country to travel.

Have you already had the opportunity to visit the french/italian alps? If you wanna see some photos of our trip last september check them out here.

You´re from Kaiserslautern, that´s not far away from the place we live (near Darmstadt) - so perhaps we´ll meet in 2009 on one of the wheeling events in Eisenberg, Saverne or other spots. If you and your wheeling buddies wanna visit the biggest european offroad fair in Bad Kissingen the next summer just let me know, we´ll get heaps of free tickets.

Thanks for showing your kitchen, I think I need something like this. Since I got my TenTrax trailer I´ve some room to spare inside my XJ so that would be a nice addition to our equipment.

That´s my rig:

No, I dont have any in progress pics.... sorry. It was one of those project that seems relatively easy in theory, but turns out to be a little different, and I probably would have thrown my camera across the shop if it had been near me at the time. I spent a ton of time doing it, but I think the finished product was worth the effort. The biggest problem is cutting out the stock a/c vent (duct work) portion, and then re-sealing it so it still works. Kind of hard to explain, but if you have seen behind the stock dash panel, you know what I mean. Once I got the new panel bent and cut out ( I used my little mill to cut out the holes for everything ) I prewired all of the switches and ran the wires under the hood. It was a big undertaking, but made life much easier once it was done.

I absolutely HATED the look of the oldschool style dash, and had to do something to spruce it up. I used 3/32nds thick 70 series anodized aluminum for the plate, and stainless screws for the mounting. You have to cut a LOT out off of the stock dash panel, but its doable. The pictures dont show it, but I also made an aluminum plate (where the hole is in the pics) that houses my OEM rear wiper/washer, and rear defrost switches. I moved them both to the right side, and made a blank aluminum plate on the left side for a digital clock (stolen from my old Tacoma), but havent put it in yet.

~James

Jan, I replied to a post you had a few weeks ago, but I dont think you saw it. I am less than an hour from you, and would love to get together for a few trips in 09. I have been to a the French alps (I saw your pics in the old post you had) in my old Toyota, but the Jeep is fairly new for me. I only built it since June, and it was bone stock, so its come a long way in a few months. Arent you on Expo Portal website?

I have been to Eisenberg a ton of times (was there last month...) and a couple other places in Germany, also in France, but I am more into wheeling trips than offroad parks. Bad Kissengen sounds great to me, I have heard about it, but have never gone. I will definitely be interested in that.

~James

James - Did you re-route the AC vent or did you just delete it?

My buddy Rainer is over in Upper Austria near Linz, he goes by Woodstock on the board here and on www.jeepforum.at, I'm sure he'd love to go wheeling too

GSequoia, I just made it a little shallower. It's (duct work) still in the same spot, and the door/flap is still there and works. I just had to re-seal everything after I cut the front plastic piece off that normally feeds the center vent. I used flashing material riveted in place, and sealed with silicone.

~James