I didn't notice the "chalk" that much and found the path from Rome to Syracuse to be nice, fast riding on 25mm tires. There were some sections with some mud and rubble, but nothing that lasted long enough for me to seriously wish for wider tires. I often chose to ride the canal path over the road alternative as it was usually more protected from the prevailing wind.
The best value meal for me was at Dunn's Pastry shop in Canastota; pizza, an eclair, a Mountain Dew and coffee for $4.02 and the drinks each came with a free bag of chips!
Most of my riding on it has been July and August, so dry weather may compound the dustiness. I have no other time of year comparisons.
I rode Fayetteville to Rome and back several times on my single speed hybrid on 28's, and if you could stay in the track, 17-18 mph is easy and pleasant. However, I found that the foot traffic (and horse traffic east of Canastota) forced me to perform a fair chunk of riding in the loose crap alongside the packed center lane. Horse hoof prints also pound the snot out of you.
I rode west of Syracuse on one trip with 23 front / 25 rear, and hopped onto the Canal trail to get out of the wind, as you mentioned. With the thinner tires, and less travelled / packed down trail, 13-14 mph was my highest comfortable, and it was twitchy enough that I opted to return to road and wind quickly.
There may have been other factors involved, but that is the detail behind my earlier post. Just my experience with it.