Dari'en gap

[Sasquatch Jim]

  In 93 I was at the BMW national in Wisconsin and met a man selling hardback books of his trip on an R-80 GS from the arctic ocean down the rockies, through the Dari'enn Gap, and some jungle, then down the high road across the Andes to Punta Arenas on the straits of Magellan.  I bought a copy and read it, then loaned to a friend who did not give it back.
 I know that the man is dead now but do any of you remember who he was or the name of his book?  I think he passed in the nineties from one of those awful slow diseases that kill you from the inside out.

[Yan]

Here you are:

http://www.amazon.com/Obsessions-Die-Hard-Motorcycling-American/dp/188431306X


(P.S. Lou Gehrig's Disease)

[maquette]

 :gotpics:Two Wheels to Adventure    Danny Liska?  Leukemia in 1992. It must be the other book Obsessions Die Hard, since Liska died in '92.

[Tobit]

No small feat making it across the Darien Gap.  I lived in the Canal Zone in the '70s and met several riders, drivers, adventurers who weren't aware of the Gap.  Simply riding through was not an option and vehicles were loaded onto freighters bound for Colombia.

The Pan American Highway through the Gap would commence during dry season, our winter, and stop once rainy season began in spring.  By the next dry season all construction would have been reclaimed by the jungle.

It was also a no-mans land of bandits, outlaws, flora and fauna that would severely mess up your plans.  I want to get this book too and read how he made it.

Tobit

[K250]

Obsessions die hard.  Ed Culberson.
 
Danny Liska was definitely one of the pioneer motorcycle adventurers but I do not believe he ever rode an R 80 G/S. 

[maquette]

Obsessions die hard.  Ed Culberson.
 
Danny Liska was definitely one of the pioneer motorcycle adventurers but I do not believe he ever rode an R 80 G/S.

Liska rode an R60.

[Sasquatch Jim]

  Thanks for the reminder.  Culberson was the guy I met and bought the book from.  Now I can't remember the name of the guy I loaned the book to.  It was a hard back book.  Culberson was selling them right off the back of his R-80 at the 93 national.  He was a very interesting man to talk to.  That book is a must read for anyone with aspirations of an adventure ride.

[Daleroso]

During Spacecoast Beemer rides or mtgs it was wonderful to listen to Ed simply chat about his Darien & other rides. He was of the Peter Egan ilk.

[Scud]

Now on my reading list. Thanks.

[tris]

Off Piste a bit still interesting http://www.range-rover-classic.com/Home/range-rover-darien-gap

John (now Sir John) Blashford Snell was an interesting bloke back in the day when companies had money to promote their new products (even if the new Range Rovers had a problem and had to be helped out by a Series Two Land Rover

[jlburgess]

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helge_Pedersen
Helge Pedersen did it on a R80-G/S too.  He wrote a book and gave presentations of his journeys.   I saw it in the late '90.  He said riding the gap was the worst idea ever.