gdw wrote:
Does anyone know the name of the book that details the boat trip
taken inland from the great lakes south to Gulf of Mexico?

thanks in advance.

Do you mean the 1879 book "Four Months in a Sneak Box" by Nathaniel
Bishop?
There is also one called "Honey, Let's Get a Boat...": A Cruising
Adventure of America's Great Loop
There is a website, also:
http://www.greatloop.com