River-horse

the long version

"In River-Horse, the preeminent chronicler of American back roads - who has given us the classics Blue Highways and PrairyErth - recounts his singular voyage on American waters from sea to sea. Along the route, he offers a lyrical shipboard perspective on the country's rivers, lakes, canals, and landscapes."--BOOK JACKET. "In his most ambitious journey ever, Heat-Moon sets off aboard a small boat he named Nikawa ("river horse" in Osage) from the Atlantic at New York Harbor in hopes of entering the Pacific near Astoria, Oregon."--BOOK JACKET. "En route, the voyagers confront massive floods, submerged rocks, dangerous weather, and their own doubts about whether they can complete the trip. But the hard days yield up incomparable pleasures: strangers generous with help and eccentric tales, landscapes unchanged since Sacagawea saw them, riverscapes flowing with a lively past, and the growing belief that efforts to protect our lands and waters are beginning to pay off. And, throughout its course, the expedition enjoys coincidences so breathtaking as to suggest the intervention of a divine and witty Providence."--BOOK JACKET.