15APRIL2012 @ Chamberlain, SD - Despite a torrential rain and despite some dampness finding it's way into the tent, I slept wonderfully last night. I awakened and made my way across the street to a convenient mart for coffee and conversation. It is interesting to hear farmers talk about the state of farming compared with the good old days. These days the harvester records the corn quantity for each area of the field. That data is fed into the fertilizer spreader so that the dosage of fertilizer is adjusted as that operation is done ... and that is only one aspect of the new farming.
At 0730 I canoed away from the American Creek Campground. It was an easy paddle along the rip rapped shore, under the old highway bridge, under the interstate bridge and onto a nice gravelly beach immediately south of the interstate. On the beach the canoe was tied up several feet out of the water and oriented in a SW to NE line. Then several inches of water were bucketed in so that a strong wind would probably not affect it. Gathering my red windbreaker and paddle I walked up, under the interstate highway, past the South Dakota Hall of Fame and into town. At this point it is raining, I am carrying a paddle walking away from a lake in a waterfront town. Yet about 8 vehicles passed me by. I could not help but compare that experience with the opposite experienced on the Crow Creek Reservation. I did get a ride and was deposited at the Bel-Aire motel at 0900. By 1130 I was bathed, shaved, had my camping gear in the room, finished a pint of buttered pecan ice cream and am typing this daily blog. Most of the gear is dry ... by dark I expect all will be dry and packed away. Outside lots and lots of rain is falling.
Late in the day I connected with Otis Cosgrove, a fine fellow with a willingness to sell one of his canoe paddles. He met me and together we drove over to Oacoma, proceeding in a VW bus perpendicular to a 50 mph wind/rain while driving on a spit of land causeway across the 2nd biggest river in America. It is a bit disconcerting to do that being surrounded by so much open water - we stayed up right and on the pavement. The 50 mph wind is also perpendicular to the canoe's orientation ... tomorrow we will see how well it withstood the waves and wind. Naturally I think I put enough water in it to hold it in place and I think I pulled it far enough from the shoreline. One meaningful factor in favor of the canoe doing OK is that each minute more water is being deposited in the canoe, making it more stable. So ... sleep well ... I guess.
Today I paddled 1.5 (recorded as two) miles, ending at river mile 966. Seven ducks were seen. It is good to be indoors.