How to "join" edges to one loop I've tried different ways to join the two edge loops to make them into one. 

The result I'm looking for is one complete loop that I can grap and slide.

In the current state I need to select both set of edges and slide them simultainously. 

E.g. when starting Blender with default cube. If I insert an edge loop. I can press g twice and slide the edge as one. Looking at my example I need to connect the two set of edges into one so that I can press g twice and the slide the edges.

I've tried to fill between the verts. I've tried to bridge the edges and then delete the resulting faces. I've tried to extrude on vert and merge it with the snapped vert. None of it Works ?!?
A set of edges must fulfill some prerequisites to work as an edge loop. To simplify: they all must be connected in a row, part of a surface, and surrounded by quads.