John Ruskey is worker bee in the colony of his queen, the Lower Mississippi River. He carves canoes, paints, and guides others into the wildest place remaining in the center of North America, the verdant floodplain of the big river, which reaches fullness in her last thousand miles of free-flowing joy to the Gulf of Mexico. He is author of Rivergator.org, one million words, photos, paintings, maps and videos describing the Mississippi River for paddlers.