With no experience paddling the big rivers, a miniscule budget, and no idea what lay ahead or how long it might take, Amanda Hoenes, a Marine veteran, of Cedarcreek, Missouri grabbed her family's old fiberglass canoe and traveled to Three Forks, Montana, the headwaters of the Missouri River to take on the adventure of a lifetime. Her only goal: make it to the Gulf of Mexico. Alone but for her rescue dog, braving wildfires, camping along the river, encountering wildlife, fighting wind and waves, and dodging river barges, she paddled more than 3,300 miles from the start of the Missouri River to the Gulf of Mexico. Temperatures plummeted as her adventure lasted into the winter months. Adapting, overcoming, and digging deeper than ever before, she emerged into the Gulf of Mexico six months later a different woman, inspired by the magnificence of the outdoors, the challenges overcome, and the authenticity and generosity of people met along the way.