I like the idea of starting and ending at some significant landmark. When I did my crossing I started at Golden Gate Bridge and ended on the setps of the Lincoln Memorial in DC. At the start though I was pretty keen to start making progress and get going in the direction of my destination - I think I would have found it a bit frustrating to spend the first few days not "getting anywhere"
Then again at the start I was new to torig so was following the ACA maps to the letter - by the end I was only using them as a rough guide and had the confidence to deviate from the suggested route