David Whitten had a dream.

Last year, it took him all the way to Kentucky.

This year, he's hoping it will take him near Mobile, Ala., and the warm green waters of the Gulf of Mexico.

Inspired by his favorite Harlan Hubbard book, Whitten and a crew of family members and a family friend spent several weeks last summer traveling down the Allegheny and Ohio rivers on a homemade riverboat.

Their goal was to reach New Orleans. They made it as far as Carrollton, Ky., halfway between Cincinnati and Louisville, before being forced to pull out 800 miles on a 30-foot shantyboat built out of rough hemlock and oak trim.

In June, Whitten, a carpenter who lives in Russell, plans to resume the family journey, changing their heading from New Orleans to Mobile on the advice of river pilots they met during their journey last summer.

The pilots told Whitten and his crew that the days of traveling down the Mississippi in a flat-bottomed shantyboat are long gone. There was a very real danger of the Whitten's riverboat being swamped and broken up by giant waves churned up by enormous trains of barges.

But there was a bright spot.

Through information provided by the river pilots, Whitten learned of an alternative route to the Gulf of Mexico, using the Tennessee River, two lakes, then the Tom Bigbee River to Mobile Bay.

Whitten plans to return to Carrollton, Ky., next month with his crew consisting of his son, three nephews and a family friend and spend two weeks making way for Alabama.

The Whittens' journey was originally inspired by Harlan Hubbard, an American author and artist who built a shantyboat in 1944 and traveled down the Ohio and Mississippi rivers from Brent, Ky.

Hubbard's book Shantyboat recounts the eight-year journey from Brent to New Orleans.

Whitten's expedition departed from the Buckaloons last June.

Whitten constructed the 30-foot long, 14-foot wide flat-bottomed boat, known as a shantyboat or a packer, using local lumber. Riverboats similar to Whitten's were a common sight on the Allegheny River between Warren and Pittsburgh in the 1800s.

Whitten's boat includes a 10- by 20-foot cabin with six bunks, a bathroom with a shower and a small kitchen and eating area.

Whitten hoped to travel an average of 67 miles each day during last year's trip using four 16-foot long oars and a 90-horsepower motor. Shallow water conditions on the upper Allegheny, broken oars and the what turned out to be an underpowered motor slowed progress considerably. The boat and its crew ended the trip in Carrollton after searching for a spot to put in and pull out for three days.

"A fish commission officer was patrolling the waterway," near Carrollton, Whitten said. "Of course our craft was sort of unique, so he wanted to check out our paperwork. We told him we needed someone to pull us out. Luckily, he knew someone with a trailer."

Whitten stored the boat in Carrollton over the winter. He scheduled two weeks off work to resume the trip in June, using the alternative route to Mobile.

Whitten said last year's trip garnered plenty of interest when people saw his boat and learned what they were attempting to accomplish.

"If we pulled in someplace to get gas, people would come and offer to take us to get whatever we needed," Whitten said. "The people we met were super, just super."