Major Samuel S. Forman hailed from a family that played a prominent role in the early years of the U.S. colonies and the transition to nationhood. In the late 1700s, Forman took an extended river journey down some of America's most storied waterways, a trip that is exhaustively recounted in this detailed travelogue.

Harlan and Anna Hubbard, newly married in middle age, build the boat of their dreams and drift down the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. Harlan is an artist and a writer with a poet's eye for the beauty of the world. Anna is a musician and an elegant master of the arts of graceful living. For seven years (1944-1951) the Hubbards make their home on their little boat, drifting with the river, camping on the land.

Together they learn how to create