Finale (Episode 4)

I am here, dear reader, at last!  After 4,540 miles, 80 hours (spread over 18 days), 15 states, and 4 time zones, I've finally reached my destination in Newark, Maryland.  There's so much more east of the Mississippi, which is one of the reasons I wanted to move out here.  This final leg has definitely been the most interesting.  The signs speak for themselves:

Santa Claus, IN
Waddy, KY
Pig's Ear Rd. (WV)
Big Chimney, WV
Big Otter, WV
Big Lantern Rd. (MD)
Big Savage Mountain, MD
Noah's Ark Begin Rebuilt Here! (next to an actual wooden, ark-like structure!) (MD)
Cox Neck Rd. (MD)
Romancoke, MD
Pig Neck Creek (MD)
Beaver Neck Village, MD
Rockawalkin Rd. (MD)
Big Assawoman (and Little Assawoman) Bay (MD)

And here are the pictures...and I must give you fair warning.  I tried to take pictures of all the things I thought were significant and that I have never seen before.   So you'll feel rather like you're listening to the ravings of a fanatic--or worse, a tourist--as you're reading through these.  Ye be warned.

So I decided that I would make this last leg a sight-seeing tour--might as well, since I won't be back for a while.  My first stop was Independence, Missouri, where the Oregon Trail allegedly begins, according to the game Oregon Trail that I played in elementary school.  However, I didn't have enough time to stop at the actual Frontiers Museum, so I substituted the historical Independence Square...to make a long story short--er, these are all the sights I could have seen if I weren't in a hurry and if there wasn't a foot of snow ont eh ground.  (The next two pictures are in Independence.)

This one is an actual historic building!  I mean, you can see Harry Truman's house if you look past the trees and the grime on my windows.

An antique store where destiny takes a hand in the lives of lovers.

You could get a lot of beer in these kegs.

I can't believe how bad these pictures are.  But I had to have a record of the Missouri River, which I crossed twice.

The Gateway Arch in St. Louis was the only real national landmark I saw on my voyage over.  Needless to say, I was enthusiastic.

There are only so many takes I can do to try to fit me and a gigantic landmark in the same shot with the camera held at arm's length...in the frigid cold.  But I promise that white thing behind the trees is really the arch.

Turn around, and...there's the Mississippi River!  Feel my joy!  If I could have, I would have gone a couple hours north to see Hannibal, Missousi, where Mark Twain grew up.  Note for future trip.

And a look back from the MLK Bridge.

So I stayed in Louisville that n ight, and I was trying to think of touristy things to do there, so I thought, What is Louisville known for?  I mean, Looeyville...Looaville?...Loovul?  Aha, they're known for the name itself.  So my tourist activity here was to go around asking locals how they pronouce their city.

Me going crazy in the car from driving through those darn-blasted, everlasting--but beautiful--Appalachian Mountains.

License plate!

Psych!

West Coasters--BP actually exists!  I didn't believe it until I started seeing them around here.

Ignoring the sign and road--aren't these houses just picturesque?  I am in love with East Coast buildings!  Also, everyone tells me the scenery is unsightly in the winter when all the trees aren't green or autumnal, which may be true, but I think there's still loveliness in all those bare branches against the snow.

More pretty East Coast houses!  This is in Cumberland, Maryland, still in the Appalachians.

So right here you should be looking at a Pennsylvania hill (see the dashed state line on my GPS?), though the road never went up into it.  I also stopped in a town called Hancock which was in Maryland, but two miles south of Pennsylvania and a quarter mile north of West Virginia.

My worst picture ever, but a record of my first toll road, the Bay Bridge from Annapolis to the Peninsula where Newark is!

And that's enough for now, though there's lots more to tell.  I can say, though, that I've had--seriously--the time of my life on this trip.  And I'm looking forward to more of the same living out here in Maryland!  Thank you, reader, for keeping me in your prayers!  And now for the final time, as I say on my super-cool Voice Memo, over and out.