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For decades, urbanites driving Interstate 5 between Portland and Seattle had two reliable means of staying awake: the free coffee at Washington state rest areas, and a large billboard from which Uncle Sam delivered messages guaranteed to angry up the blood.
The drive is about to get a little sleepier. The Seattle Times reports that the Napavine property holding the billboard is for sale, and the sellers aren’t seeking to preserve Uncle Sam.
The billboard, which sits roughly 78 miles north of Portland on I-5, has outlived its creator by 18 years. Al Hamilton, a Chehalis turkey and cattle farmer, erected it in 1967 and updated it regularly with conservative messaging. Hamilton died in 2004 but his family continued the postings.
The bulletins were only sporadically coherent, but they included screeds against illegal immigration and conspiracy theories about President Barack Obama’s birthplace and vaccinations.
The Times reports that the same two messages have been on display for the past four years:
“How many Americans will we leave behind in Ukraine?” says the southbound signage. “No one died in WW2 so you could show papers to buy food!” it informs northbound travelers.
The Hamiltons’ real estate broker, Israel Jimenez, last month placed the 3.5-acre property on the market for $2.5 million. The Times story features an interview with him, along with a detailed history of the billboard. It’s well worth a read.
As for the coffee? Volunteer groups still sign up to hand it out at the rest areas.