I’m a member of the Duke City Fix blog collective based in Albuquerque, and I posted the latest news about El Vado Motel.

Considering it’s iffy on whether El Vado can return as a motel if it’s saved, I asked for suggestions on other ways El Vado can be re-used, yet keep its historic look. A number of good suggestions resulted.

If you want to add your two cents, sign up and have at ‘er.

Those who drive Route 66 in Illinois know of the Our Lady of the Highways shrine on a farm near Raymond, Ill. Many a person on the Mother Road has stopped at the well-tended landmark to pray or give it a moment of respectful silence.

A second sort of shrine — a nativity scene — has been erected in the 1800 block of South Fifth Street (map here) in nearby Springfield, which is on a 1932-58 alignment of Route 66.

According to the Springfield Journal-Register, Charles Dees erected the nativity as a sort of protest against Christmas commmercialism, his declining neighborhood and what he considers the city’s indifference towards that area.

But the city wants the nativity gone:

He was recently notified via a letter from the city that his nativity scene is in violation of Article 2, 99.10, “unauthorized obstructions and encumbrances.” Though this is a small nativity scene rather than, say, a large brick structure, it still is deemed to be in violation of the code. [...]

The city’s problem with the nativity scene is that it is too close to the street. Charles responded to the city’s letter with a letter of his own, including photographs of other nearby curbside obstructions, one of which caused a blind friend of his to fall. [...]

His display at the curb was carefully created. For the base, Charles transported indigenous Illinois rock from the Pere Marquette area. Around the base are cactus plants that Charles brought to town from the banks of the Sangamon River. Mary and the baby Jesus are atop the rock.

“It’s the softness of Mary, but showing the hard and brittle earth,” Charles explains. “This time called ‘life’ is no bed of roses.”

Based on the rest of the article, it sounds like Dees may have a legitimate beef against the city. And the citation seems  ridiculous, given that all kinds of elaborate and eye-catching Christmas displays are put up in yards this time of year.

However, Dees also has refused to pay his property taxes, which doesn’t put him in good moral standing, either.

In the meantime, like Our Lady of the Highways, a few travelers stop at the Springfield display and sometimes pray there before proceeding on their journey.

In the street next to the display he has stenciled a Route 66 symbol. He says that, too, fits with his statue of Mary.

“What do they always call Route 66?” he asks. “The Mother Road.”

Bill Kirchen is the former lead guitarist of Commander Cody and his Lost Planet Airmen, and that’s his playing that anchors the band’s biggest hit, “Hot Rod Lincoln,” from 1972.

Kirchen is now a solo act, and he usually tours with his band, Too Much Fun. Kirchen has his own version of “Hot Rod Lincoln” where he performs just about every great guitar riff in the music songbook.

In this performance, he’s without his band, apparently because he’s at a folk festival. Fortunately, he didn’t unplug his Fender Telecaster.