Description
Book SynopsisTired of an unfulfilling life in Kansas City, Patrick Dobson left his job and set off on foot across the Great Plains. After two and a half months and 1,450 miles, Dobson arrived in Helena, Montana. He then set a canoe on the Missouri and asked the river to carry him safely back to Kansas City. In
Canoeing the Great Plains, Dobson recounts his journey on the the US's longest river.
Trade Review"[
Canoeing the Great Plains is] an absorbing travelogue and a candid, introspective story of one man’s search to find himself."
—Missouri Historical Review“Like our best travel writers—Bryson, Heat Moon, Strayed, and Frazier come to mind—Dobson is good company: irreverent, funny, wise.”—Greg Martin, associate professor of English at the University of New Mexico and author of
Mountain City and Stories for Boys“Part travelogue, part social commentary, Dobson narrates a gritty and multidimensional tale, even as his descriptions of the landscape and the river are as warm as the summer sun. It was a journey I didn’t want to end.”—Sandra Moran, anthropologist and award-winning author of Letters Never Sent and Nudge
“This is a work of strength and beauty, of care and courage. Patrick Dobson’s voyage down the length of the Missouri River is not simply one of self-discovery, but a journey that allows the reader to look inward as well. . . . We are fortunate to be able to share in his odyssey of exuberance and discovery.”—Alan Boye, author of Just Walking the Hills of Vermont and Sustainable Compromises
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments
Prologue
1. Doomed
2. Drunkenness, Fear, and Determination
3. Your Friend, the River
4. Life Preserver
5. Carless
6. Medicine River
7. A Speck in the Landscape
8. Spirits of the Dead
9. Cheap Cigars
10. Oaths and Vulgarities
11. Staying in Motion
12. Owl Headdress
13. Doris
14. A Startling Leap
15. Rather Be Fishing
16. The Toughest Part
17. Home but not Home
18. Epilogue
