Last night, way past bedtime, I did one last look at Trail Journals and noticed a reference to the Mississippi River. Further study revealed a journal kept by woman who paddled a canoe the entire length of the Mississippi last summer. The whole journal isn’t posted yet, but her pictures document the whole voyage.
I don’t think you can imagine how vast the Mississippi is until you get out on it in a canoe. And then row from beginning to end. A quick Google search reveals this is a fairly common adventure — here’s one account by a guy who did it after finishing the Appalachian Trail a couple months sooner than planned. One thing about paddling: you’d save a lot of money on shoes and socks, though the butt callouses might get old.