Hurricane Dorian hit Nova Scotia and tracked up the west coast of Newfoundland, leaving a path of destruction in its wake. Fortunately for us, we were on the east coast of Newfoundland to avoid the devastation.
We left St. John’s and heading west into strong winds and rain, the after effects of the hurricane. This was supposed to be a day of driving without site seeing, but we couldn’t resist a stop in Dildo for a photo opportunity.
In August 2019, the American late-night talk show Jimmy Kimmel Live! focused on Dildo over a number of episodes. As part of the activity, host Jimmy Kimmel was made honorary mayor of Dildo (the community is governed by a volunteer committee and does not have an elected mayor), and Guillermo Rodriguez, who is known as Kimmel’s sidekick “security guard”, was made an honorary citizen of Dildo through the Newfoundland tradition of ‘screeching in,’ on the August 15, 2019 broadcast of the show. Rodriguez visited the community for a week.
Kimmel, declared Hollywood as Dildo’s sister city. As part of his gesture, he also gifted the community a sign (in the style of the Hollywood sign) which sits on the hillside overlooking the community.
We had a good laugh, then continued on our way towards Grand Falls where we boondocked for the night at Walmart.
After a long drive, we sat in the truck wondering where we could park. We watched in horror as rouge shopping carts took off in the strong winds like land yachts, careening through the parking lot on a broad reach.
Most cars weren’t in their path, some not so lucky. Passengers and drivers jumped out of cars to bravely fend them off, some getting crushed in the process. Other drivers looked for escape routes.
After a quick walkabout we determined all unsecured carts had departed the lot. We felt safe that we wouldn’t be victims to any further errant carts, however, we noticed a few transient homeless people that caused us concern about overnight theft.
With everything stored away, and the vehicle secured, we retired for the night listening to the howling wind and debris blowing across the parking lot like tumbleweeds.