The Erie Canal

Today is the 10th consecutive day of riding. The first day of this stint of was a short day (31.1 miles to Manitowoc, Wisconsin) and today was a short day as well (38.6 miles to Palmyra, New York), but the eight days in-between were relatively normal-length days. I'm now at my dad's house and I'm planning to take at least a couple rest days before I make the final push to Portland, Maine. As an aside, I may or may not post a blog entry each of my rest days.

Today's abbreviated day was another Erie Canalway Trail day. As with yesterday, friends and family had put out encouraging signs for me.



At the final sign before my dad's house, he was waiting there for me. We took a quick selfie before he took the signs down before getting in trouble with the Department of Transportation.

The only other thing I took pictures of today was the different types of boats on the canal:
A large-ish sailboat heading toward one of the locks.


A tour boat sans tourists.


A cargo barge being pushed by a tugboat. One of the questions I had was whether the canal was used for cargo. This barge answered that question. The canal is mostly used for recreation and tourism purposes, but there is still some commercial cargo transported via the canal.

In addition to the above boats, there was the usual collection of speedboats, pontoon boats, and other personal-use boats. Although it's 200 years old, the Erie Canal is a much-used attraction of Upstate New York.

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