Early 1977
Another day, another expedition, another chance – Loren returned to the Darien Gap driving a new CJ-7 Jeep. This expedition was almost textbook perfect. He crossed the Gap in 49 days, but rainy season had arrived, so he traveled about 8 – 10 miles lashed a-top a dug-out canoe up the vast rivers in the Atrato Swamp of Colombia, hence not an all-land crossing.
A couple of weeks later, this point became moot; while driving high in the Andean mountains of Ecuador, the road turned, and Loren didn’t. The Jeep went over a 300-foot embankment. There were no significant injuries to anyone on board, but as Loren watched the headlights flip end over end, he began making plans for another expedition.