Trans-Canada Distance: 90 kilometres
THEN: (Whitbourne) It’s not been so far to drive today, but back in 1962 this was the end of the paved road west from St. John’s. The highway turned to corrugated gravel before Whitbourne and separated the casual tourists from the determined traveller.
Edward McCourt
Author Edward McCourt described his 1963 drive along it, in his book The Road Across Canada, as “an endless succession of iron-surfaced washboard, gaping pot-holes, and naked rock — a shoulder-twisting, neck-snapping, dust-shrouded horror.” And by all other accounts, he was being kind.
It was not until 1965, when McCourt’s book was published, that the road was properly paved across the province, at great expense. And canny premier Joey Smallwood made sure the great expense came from the pockets of the federal government, not the provincial coffers.
But all went well, the wide tires gripped and the car made it back onto the road. I gathered some salty Atlantic water in a bottle, which I’ll pour into the salty Pacific when I reach the opposite coast, and then drove into St. John’s with the top down for a last look at the Mile One Centre before heading out to the dump and the real start of the Trans-Canada Highway.
SOMETHING DIFFERENT: (Dildo) The towns have colourful names in Newfoundland. Here’s local businessman Kevin Nolan, the owner of the nearby Dildo Dory Grill, describing the communities of Trinity Bay: “You turn just before you get to Come-By-Chance, you go past Spreadeagle, and then you get to Dildo. After you leave Dildo, you enter Shag Rock, and then it’s Heart’s Delight and then Heart’s Desire and Heart’s Content. And then you enter Conception Bay. That’s just before Cupids.”
He took a photo of me with a statue of the town’s mascot, Captain Dildo, named for the town which is supposedly named after a place in Spain — nobody’s really sure. The statue is cemented into the ground, to stop it suffering the same fate as the road signs whenever college students come to visit.
Captain Dildo, the town mascot of Dildo, NL.
