Lewiston, Idaho is 25 miles south of my home. The old northbound road out Lewiston, now named “Spiral Highway”, is the location of the true story hyperbolically related in the song “Hot Rod Lincoln.”
By the time Commander Cody did his cover of the song several years later, the lyrics had been altered to suggest Los Angeles as the locale.
The guy who drove the car, wrote the song, and originally performed it, kept performing it locally well into his old age.
Have I been there? I’ve driven up and down it a couple of times. It’s far more interesting (but much slower) than the modern four-lane freeway which replaced it decades ago.
Worth a visit? Only if you’re already in Lewiston.
You should come to Texas, where everything is bigger. Except Stonehenge - but Easter Island is there too - both are free. If you’re ever in Austin, the bats are well worth the totally free admission price. A few miles down the road, we recently went on a glass bottomed boat. Actually worth paying for.
A five-minute drive in one direction takes you to Yasukuni Shrine, where Japan honors its war dead, and the Yushukan War Museum. I’ve taken many out-of-town visitors there. Around this time of year, there are sakura (cherry blossoms) in the area.
A five-minute drive in another direction is Korakuen. It is an entertainment center home to Tokyo Dome, a sports/concert stadium, and an amusement park with an indoor spa. Also nearby is Koishikawa botanical gardens which feature koi-filled (carp) ponds and Japanese-style gardens.
There’s a pretty good picture of it here. I’ve been over it a number of times, before the new highway was built, when it was the only direct link between northern and southern Idaho. One particularly intense memory…returning from a family vacation to the panhandle, I was 14 and had just got my driver’s license. Dad, in a moment of weakness let me take the wheel of our old Dodge over that stretch…he must have been apprehensive (I certainly would have been, had I not had the dumb confidence of youth), I guess he figured if I could drive that I was good for just about anything. I managed it all right…even got a few chuckles at the flatland tourists inching along with their white knuckles.
Interestingly, I’ve spent quite a bit of time around Lewiston, but had never heard that the hill was the inspiration behind “Hot Rod Lincoln”.
SS
Unfortunately, I work on the opposite side of the building, but if I walked to the back of where I work, I’d have a great view of an old sign that a lot of people come to see…
I guess I could also walk a few blocks and reminisce about the good old days, but I’d have to fight my way through crowds - so I tend to just jump in my car and fight traffic on my way home instead…
- but Easter Island is there too - both are free. If you’re ever in Austin, the 