I Should Buy a Boat - Day 89: Fairport to Fayetteville, NY

More pretty stuff and unfounded depression today, almost as if the pretty stuff around me provided contrast to highlight how I felt. Something I ate in Syracuse absolutely destroyed my intestines, too, which brought my body into alignment with my mood and made for a painful night. Syracuse also required me to divert from the canal quite a bit, as signs indicated that I should take a wide loop around the edge of the city instead of going straight through like Google Maps suggested. I followed the signs, but the extra distance may have not been a smart decision with the state of my digestive system. The route I posted doesn't account for this loop, because I wasn't able to accurately retrace it without more effort than I really felt like putting in.

Not all of today actually followed the canal. I didn't understand exactly why I had to divert from it, only that there was a difference between the "main channel" and other branches that had been used at different times in the past. None of this would be a problem if I had just hopped on a boat, so I thought about ways to turn my bike into a raft if I wanted to do that. I wanted to say I effectively rode the whole way, though, and continued heading generally eastward. The only especially memorable point was when I was diverted out onto some rolling fields where I rode, half-naked in skintight shorts due to the heat, past some embarrassed Amish women selling peaches.

I rode until very late, and eventually settled into the bushes north of Fayetteville. On the graffiti image below, note that someone named "Frank" seemed confused about the purpose of that mural. Also, the train station in Syracuse is a very imposing building.