I crossed Maryland on my way south from DC, but saw another side of the state taking the Chesapeake Bridge and heading north up to Ocean City, where I stayed overnight. Ocean City must be quite something in the height of summer, but it was eerily charming on a quiet December day, but still as American as Apple Pie.
My great adventure was coming to an end. This was my last night before I returned to New Jersey to check in my car. Together we had visited 35 states and covered around 20,000 miles. Had it been like I expected? Yes, and No. I've lived in the USA before and travelled a lot, but somehow this time I felt I saw the America that inspired and still inspires a nation, away from the big cities. A land of immense natural beauty, of the indigenous people, of immigrants and migrations, of violent struggle, of the civil rights movement, of American ingenuity and endeavour and, most of all, of the stories about this nation's development told in prose, poetry, song and film. It's been a gas.