The canal crosses upstate New York with locks, which are much smaller than on the Mississppi River and exiting on Lake Erie near Buffalo. It is important to turn left at this point to avoid "a bit of a waterfall."
Lake Erie offers the choice of travelling the northern -- Canadian -- side or the southern and longer American side. Should one choose the Canadian side, one must anticipate immigration on both sides and again when coming back into American waters.
Reaching the end of Lake Erie one goes up the Detroit river to Lake St. Clair then up the St. Clair river to Lake Huron. The route then follows the coastline of the Michigan peninsula to the top where another choice has to be made between the east and west sides of Lake Michigan to Chicago. The western side is the more sheltered side, but more remote with several open water crossings. It may also be shorter. The eastern side has more lakeside communities for resupply but is exposed to the prevailing wind coming across the full width of the lake.
The total distance of the trip is 3,000 km. Although I am hoping to traverse it in 60 days, that may be rather optimistic. Smelling the roses would be nice. The said goald would necessitate an average 50 km: somewhat more nose-to-grindstone. Time will tell whether that is too ambitious. About 80 days are available.
Should I make it to Chicago, that might not be the end of the trip, depending on how much time I have left [editor's note: type A *ahem*]. If I felt so inclined I could continue down the Illinois river to the Mississippi and St Louis. The attraction of doing that is that it would equal the distance of my 2011 Mississppi river trip, and I could catch up again with some of the people who were so kind and helpful to me on that trip.
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