Last night I was flying in IMC under IFR with my CFII. Our clearance was KHPN ESJAY V623 SAX KCDW. After reaching ESJAY we were vectored for a bit and told to expect the LOC 22 into KCDW (http://flightaware.com/resources/airport/CDW/IAP/LOC+RWY+22/pdf). Then ATC told us to maintain 2500 feet and fly direct DOWDY, which is an intermediate fix and the first fix on the localizer for the IAP. This is NYC airspace, so it gets pretty busy and sometimes you can't get a word in on frequency to ask the controller for your next clearance. We got very close to DOWDY without further clearance and the frequency was too busy to make a request. Luckily the controller cleared us for the approach right before we hit DOWDY, but I was concerned that we would not be cleared in time.
My question is what should we have done if we hit DOWDY without receiving further clearance? Are we supposed to treat DOWDY as the clearance limit and hold at DOWDY with a standard holding pattern based on the heading we approached DOWDY or do we assume that the controller wanted us to intercept the localizer? Keep in mind there is no published hold and we're at 2500 and the MSA for the area is 3000, so there may be obstructions in the area we would be holding and we can't see anything. I'm pretty sure holding is the book answer, but is this what you would have done in this situation?
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