Stops along Highway 66
Chain of Rocks Bridge. St. Louis, Missouri
Meramec Caverns. Stanton, Missouri
Blue Swallow Motel. Tucumcari, New MexicoHighway 66 is the route families used to get to California. John Steinbeck called this route the "Mother Road." This route was established on November 11, 1926. The road ran from Chicago, Illinois through Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona before ending at California, stretching 2,400 miles across two-thirds of the continent. However it was officially removed from the U.S Highway system on June 27, 1985.
Families would travel in cars or whatever vehicle they have to get to California.
How this road is significant to the Joads and all migrants is this road led them to California, seeking a better life. The narrator describes the road as "the mother road, the road of flight" which allows people to pursue their dreams. While traveling on the road, families begin to bond and trust one another. On this highway, migrant workers face cruelty and discrimination but kindness from the same social class. The experience in the highway foreshadows what will occur to them in California such as the bad living conditions in California.
Did your sources tell you why it was removed from the highway system?
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