Notes from the road

I’ve been watching this story carefully, even though it doesn’t have much to do with Route 66.

Johnny Hallyday, 66, a rock ‘n’ roll legend in France, was placed in a medically induced coma in Los Angeles after complications developed in France after back surgery. He’s expected to make a recovery, and he emerged from the coma Monday evening.

The Route 66 connection? He had been embarking on what was reportedly his final music tour, called “Route 66,” a tribute to his age and to the American rock that has inspired his music. It’s too bad Hallyday’s last tour turned so sour.

— IPD, a Volvo parts supplier, is holding its annual online photo contest involving vintage Volvos. In the lead is Jack Connelly’s 1966 model, parked in front of the Cyrus Avery Memorial Plaza in Tulsa, under the big neon Route 66 shield on the catwalk. The Route 66 yahoo group has been merrily stuffing the online ballot box in recent days, and you can do the same.

— Laurel Kane’s Afton Station in Afton, Okla., was prominently mentioned in an article about U.S. 60 by David McLane for OhmyNew International. U.S. 60 merges with Route 66 in parts of northwestern Oklahoma. Kane also has a blog here.

— The Rose Bowl Events Center is hosting an “old-school, Tulsa honky-tonk, New Year’s Eve party” starting at 7 p.m., said owner Sam Baker. “Enjoy a cold beer, concessions, complimentary midnight champagne toast, party favors and top your evening off with some lucky black-eyed peas and corn bread,” he said. The cost is $15 a head. Entertainment will be the Round Up Boys, a very good local Western swing band. Proceeds from the event go to the American Cancer Society. The Rose Bowl, on the 11th Street alignment of Route 66, was a bowling center for many years.

— A new reader-generated site has launched, called FavoriteRoad.com. It’s a place for “road trippers” to share their stories and photographs about their favorite two-lane highways and road trips. It’s sponsored by Asphalt Magazine.