23APRIL2012 near Verdel, NE - I awoke at the Plainview Duck Club, a gathering hall - now with three sides - on the river bank. The concrete floor has buckled and the river side has 3 columns still in place.  The weather is calm and warm ... a great day to push off through the braided channels and into Springfield.  I coffeed at the Blue Moon, delaying my departure until about 0800.  On the water I was immediately struck by noticing how the houses below the ramp seemed to fare much better than did those above.  I'm not sure what it is about them, and were I to stay longer here I would inquire ... for now just know the observation.  For several miles downstream the river flow was low and I dragged on the sand several times.  Wind was strong from the SE ... it was predicted from the SW ... and caused me to paddle backward often to remain in the current.  The strong wind and low current were concerns until I passed the Niobrara River.  Heavily silt laden, the Niobrara overwhelmed the flow of the Missouri, totally eliminating my concern about water flow rate.  Also at the Niobrara the river direction changed essentially simultaneously with the wind so that for the remainder of the day I had a tail wind.  Given what I was headed for in the afternoon I felt that a tailwind was needed.  I paddled on past sand dune after sand dune.  I am told that this area is always sandy, but is exceedingly more so this year since the flood stripped many riparian island and banks of vegetation.  The big sweep left immediately upstream of the Niobrara bridge is a sandy area over half a mile across.  It looks like one might imagine the Sahara desert. 
Below the Niobrara bridge I stopped for my daily meal at the bar up the hill.  There I was advised to go far right on the way to Springfield then immediately begin looking for the opening in the wetlands that would carry me all the way left and to Springfield.  Strange as that sounds the directive is the same as David Miller's book posits, so I was reassured.  It was also reassuring to here all the folks profess that they do the float a lot and never have a problem.  So pushing off I immediately workred my way across the river and proceeded down the right bank, scraping bottom often and taking every right turn possible.  After several miles of passing sandy bank after sandy bank I did indeed find myself looking up at the very high and steep bluffs on the right bank.  It is pretty easy paddling along there in an 80-foot wide channel with plenty of water and wind at my back.  But ... it is disconcerting because an island is hemming me in and it is a seriously large island.  The thought comes by that maybe going all the way to the right bank may be a bit too far ... is it not reasonable that to get to the way left one would need to start heading that way soon?  I see the water towers of Springfield getting larger and lagrger and plainer and clearer.  Finally the island ends and I go as far left as I can, noting what seems like a channel about 100 feet upstream.  Was I supposed to get in that channel?  No, surely the casual floaters I talked to at the bar would have said if that was needed.  Continuing downstream I see nothing ... thoughts of sleeping at some location other that Springfield enter my mind.  I mean what is so special about Springfield anyway?  Perhaps I can continue on the far right and eventually spill out into the lake and find a decent Nebraska camp site for tonight.  It is after all, too early for mosquitoes and snakes ... what could be harmed by that?  Eventually I see a small channel - but it is plugged with debris.  Backing out I take the next channel only 150 feet farther down and it loops back into the plugged channel.  Paddling another 150 feet or so I am able to ascertain that the flow is going my way ... hooray!  Maybe this goes all the way through.  But the channel is so small, only 60 to 80 feet wide and 30 inches deep.  If this splits either fork will have a very low flow and I may be way out in this wetland.  Thoughts of tugging a loaded canoe through a small channel  for a mile or more can not be snuffed out as I paddle on.  The channel never picks up any inflow and never stops winding and often is not even heading for the left bank ... but overall the water towers are getting closer.  About the time I conclude I will indeed make it I take a wrong turn.  I actually came to a three way intersection and I went straight ahead, straight toward the Springfield water tower.  After 50 yards of that I realized that I was paddling upstream!  How can it be that water is flowing downstream and away from Springfield?  Obviously I backpaddle and take the intersection  left.  That dumped me into a wide water area ... with no discernable flow at all ... and shallow.  Oh my ... please Lord let this go somewhere.  Opting to simply head for the left bank I did just that, winding around several islands until only water lay between me and the steep bank.  Paddling on I could slowly discern that a channel appeared to be along that bank also - and it was!  Hooray hooray hooray I made it.  Paddling down to the Marina was simple though a bit longer than I expected.  How wonderful to tie up and stand on firm ground and not be somewhere OUT THERE. 
In Springfield I bumped into Larry Walker, the new owner of the trailer park.  Sure they accept paddlers ... sure he will help shuttle my gear ... sure he will take me to the grocery store ... sure I can sleep in the laundry room if I wish to not put up my tent.  I will refrain from telling how low the fee was for this ... just suffice it to say that Larry is really really really paddler friendly.  I love Larry!  He is my type of guy! 
By dark thirty I was showered and stretched out on the (12 X 16) laundramat floor.  Awesome.          
Today I paddled from river mile 852 to river mile 832, a distance of 20 miles.  It is only 21 miles to the dam ... the final dam.