27APRIL2012 near Vermillion, SD - Shortly after sunrise I pushed off from the Clay County Boat Ramp and into a strong SE wind.  Fortunately a stronger current carried me slowly downstream.  Geese seem to be everywhere - is it bad weather that brings them out?  Bad weather .. well, not nearly as bad as I had inferred from weather reports.  I mean it's totally dry though rain fell several times last night.  It is also totally cloudy and threatening ... I call that bad.  After three miles progress I was tired of the battling and battering and I found myself in the N-S channel immediately upstream of the new (2004) bridge straight south from Vermillion.  As wonderful as it was to paddle in the wind shadow of the bank and trees, I chose to go no farther and pulled in at a construction site.  My canoe is probably the first one to pull in at this boat launch site ... a road grader, a D6 and two excavators are sitting idle there today.  The banks are being rip rapped, lots of large trees lie back in the woods and lots of freshly turned dirt provides challenging walking.  It is close to highway 19, so I began the hitchhiking.  Nine vehicles passed and I was just in the process of wishing for The Crow Creek Reservation and the hospitality of Indians when Geraldine Bailey stopped and carried me into town.  Need I report the coming comment?  Geraldine is - sho 'nuff - part Cherokee.  If this trend continues I will develop a disdain for the White Eyes.  
I checked in at the Westside hotel then went out to the Clay County Ramp and retrieved my damp gear.  Packing that into the motel I walked about Vermillion for a few hours.  A city park has camping spots for $5 ... after three nights you must ask permission to stay longer.  Close by is a folf course complete with tee boxes marked with a par score ... impressive.  The HyVee store has a noon salad buffet for $6.40 - all you can eat.  I stayed over an hour catching up on my lack of fresh food ... strawberries, watermelon, lettuce, grapes plus some roughage.  Through it all it never rained.  Wind stayed fierce, though, and I console myself with the knowledge that 85% and 90% rain chance is still forecast for tonight.  Several ladies were coffeeing at HyVee and I questioned if they know Paul Putz.  Paul is the historic building's guy in Helena, having moved from Vermillion more than 6 years back.  Well, sure, they knew Paul and one of the group lives beside Paul's parents.  All right Paul, your story is verified.     
Indeed at 1600 rain started and raged for several hours.  At 2000 I walked out and was doing serious puddle jumping ... drainage ditches were rumbling.  As I nodded off it was raining again, but a bit more sedately. 
Today I paddled from river mile 780 to river mile 777, a distance of 3 miles.  Sioux City is at river mile 735, only 42 river miles away.  It appears that I will leave South Dakota behind before May arrives.