[Above: Nancy Olson works at changing one of the two damaged wheels sustained by vehicle D2 in Panama.]

Journal by Adam Burgess

Panama is an interesting place to see from the side of the highway at night. I was driving the tail of the convoy with foggy contact lenses, fatigue, and some distracting photos on Neil's laptop. These roads in between the border and Panama City are under constant repair. They have an interesting process of road construction here, where someone leaves an empty and severely dented oil drum at the head of the lane in repair with no other forewarnings. Beyond that is no road and to the left, or right depending on what lane is removed, the two way traffic is forced into the same lane. Before I knew it the right wheels both veered off and dropped off the side of the road where it didn't exist.

We dropped a good 12-18 inches and a "boom" so big you'd think we ripped the axle off. "Flump, flump, flop, flump," we bounced out with dual flats on the left and rolled to a shoulder as the rest of the convoy barreled on ahead. Neil and I immediately started laughing in disbelief at what had just happened. We couldn't find the walkie-talkie, since much of what we had arranged in the Land Rover had flown all over the place. I grabbed the camera and we circled the car assessing the damage. Tacos for rims front and back. The rear tire lay floppy and flat in the dirt shoulder, the front hissing like an angry snake. Soon we hear the crew call over the CB to see if we could hear them, then they arrived over the horizon of the nighttime two-lane highway. Hella bumper lights of three rigs in search of the "Minnow".

They got out in disbelief of the situation and couldn't believe what had happened to the wheels. They tried to ask what happened but I ignored them and hid behind the camera shooting their reactions. They all kept asking Neil if he did it, Colin came out of Justin’s car and whispered to Neil, "You fell asleep at the wheel again didn't you?" He kept denying it all but was afraid to say I did it on camera because I have them all trained to pretend I don't exist when I'm shooting. So poor Neil didn't know how to react. Nancy went to work immediately jacking the car up. Nick and Justin argued about whether they should move the car off of the soft soil before trying to lift it. Justin was right, but Nick first tried to lift the low side that was leaning even more on the shoulder with a high lift jack. Later they moved the car to where Justin had recommended and they finished the job. It was ironic that the film crew blew the tires, created the drama and sat back to film them repair it, but it made for some good dramatic footage.

Logbook for December 14th
Start: Sombra de la Lapa, Costa Rica
Finish: Agua Dulce, Panama
N: 8* 14.819'
W: 80* 32.202
Mileage: 247
Notes: LONGITUDE departed the home of artist Michael Cranford on the Osa Peninsula at 8:00 a.m. to drive around to the Costa Rica/Panama border. Team entered Panama via Paso Canoas. Border crossing took 4 hours. Neil had to play dumb to avoid having to give away coffee and money as bribes. "This is my country. I control who can come in. You need my signature..." Convoy continued East/Southeast away from the border, bee-lining it to get as close to Panama City and Colon as possible before stopping for the night. An unidentified hazard about an hour west of Agua Dulce caused Vehicle D2 to be sidelined with serious rim damage. Team replaced right-side front and rear wheels with spares from D4 and D2. Pit stop crew of Nick, Nancy, and Todd changed both in about 20 minutes. The roads in central america are ridden with pot holes so, when our director of photography went off the road into a deep gorge, the impact blew the bead on the right rear and severely dented both rims. Our BFGoodrich TA Mud Terrain tires, however did not sustain any damage. The documentary vehicle is now running on spares, but, once the rims are repaired, we´ll be back in business with the original BFGoodrich tires that began this journey. During Drive Around the World´s previous expedition, LATITUDE (1999), the team drove from Beijing to San Francisco without a single puncture. After a quick stop down the road for refreshments, snacks, and a hosing down of the sweaty and grimy pit crew, the convoy was back on the road. Arriving at a secure hotel in Agua Dulce at midnight they hit the rack immediately. (N.O.)

Help support our cause: The LONGITUDE Expedition is the longest journey ever attempted with a focus on Parkinson's Disease. The Drive Around the World team aims to raise money for Parkinson’s Disease research by driving four Certified Pre-Owned Land Rover Discoverys around the globe following lines of longitude. Readers are encouraged to pledge small amounts of money per expedition-kilometer via a pledge form that can be found on our Parkinson’s page by clicking here. 100% of donations received go directly to Parkinson's research and all who donate $10 or more will be entered into a raffle to win an expedition-equipped Land Rover Discovery.