# Two Q's about US 66 and travel in the old timey days. **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 3, 2009, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-qs-about-us-66-and-travel-in-the-old-timey-days/505166 "2009-08-03T14:46:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2009, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-qs-about-us-66-and-travel-in-the-old-timey-days/505166/1 "2009-08-03T14:46:45Z")
I was watching John Ford’s “Grapes of Wrath” again this weekend. Two different questions: a) The Joad family cross from Arizona into California using US Hwy 66, now I-40. If you look at a map, between Kingman, AZ and Needles, CA, I-40—and presumably US 66 before it—takes a big dogleg. There are some secondary roads, however, that provide a much more direct route. Q: Why the dogleg? b) In two different scenes, the Joads are stopped at border crossings between states—once going into Arizona, and once going into California. In the first one, there’s no indication why. They “officer” just slaps some sticker on the truck, and tells them to keep moving. In the second, it’s clearly an agricultural checkpoint. Q: In the old days, were checkpoints between states that common, and was it mainly for agriculture, or did everyone have to stop and “show their papers?” ---
**Author:** ![IAmNotSpartacus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/cc9497/32.png) [@IAmNotSpartacus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IAmNotSpartacus)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2009, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-qs-about-us-66-and-travel-in-the-old-timey-days/505166/2 "2009-08-03T15:26:11Z")
> [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](#): > > I was watching John Ford’s “Grapes of Wrath” again this weekend. Two different questions: > > a) The Joad family cross from Arizona into California using US Hwy 66, now I-40. If you look at a map, between Kingman, AZ and Needles, CA, I-40—and presumably US 66 before it—takes a big dogleg. There are some secondary roads, however, that provide a much more direct route. > > Q: Why the dogleg? You can thank the Black Mountains for that. However, US66 went through those mountains, through the town of Oatman, and I40 bypasses a great deal of US66’s route between Kingman and Barstow ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2009, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-qs-about-us-66-and-travel-in-the-old-timey-days/505166/3 "2009-08-03T15:29:49Z")
Take a look on Google Maps and you’ll see the reason for the dogleg. There is a rather steep line of mountains along the direct route. 40 jogs south to go around them. They also needed to hit a town along the way, and Needles was all that was there. Most of the checkpoints were/are agricultural in nature, but there were some set up to try to get a handle on the Okies. ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2009, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-qs-about-us-66-and-travel-in-the-old-timey-days/505166/4 "2009-08-03T15:33:17Z")
Are you talking about the pass just north of Lake Havasu City? It’s just there to avoid having to climb a large mountain. As for the agriculture checkpoint, I think California has been and continues to be fairly unique in that regard. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2009, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-qs-about-us-66-and-travel-in-the-old-timey-days/505166/5 "2009-08-03T17:05:06Z")
Route 66 had a lot of different configurations over the years. From [this site](http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.theroadwanderer.net/images/UnitedStatesRt66.gif&imgrefurl=http://www.theroadwanderer.net/route66.htm&usg=__-Ic_pvy6r7F4efvTZhUgmPM_38k=&h=330&w=510&sz=41&hl=en&start=7&tbnid=xyNS2RIxeRf_3M:&tbnh=85&tbnw=131&prev=/images%3Fq%3DU.S.%2B66%26gbv%3D2%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Doff)I found this about Kingman. > [@](#): > > Route 66 leaves the higher elevations at Kingman and drops down into the desert. This was many a west bound traveler’s first glimpse of the dreaded Mojave Desert but for those going east it promised an end to the blistering heat among the cool Arizona pines down the road a bit. In the early 1950s Route 66 (now Interstate 40) was straightened to avoid the Black Mountains thus by-passing Oatman, Arizona and passing through Yucca, Arizona instead. _[snip_] > > If you were to continue on the Interstate (I-40) towards California and bypass Oatman you would be following the newer alignment of Route 66 laid down in the early 1950s. When the Interstate was built in the 1970s it followed this alignment. As for the border checkpoints, I can remember being on vacation in the 1950s and being stopped at state borders and asked whether we were bringing any fruits or vegetables into the state. Stenbeck took a little license, but it was fact-based. > [@](#): > > The plight of the Oakies became a part of the Route 66 story, the legend of the road. In 1934, Los Angeles police stationed themselves at the Arizona border in order to check the wave of dust bowlers. The police held all immigrants at the state line, allowing only a few across at a time and turning many back. This checkpoint didn’t last, however, and emigration on Route 66 continued through the 1930s. By 1939, the migration had reached epic proportions, and Californians reacted with fear and anger. One California grower put it in the following way: “This isn’t a migration—its and invasion! They’re worse than a plague of locusts!” ---
**Author:** ![An\_Arky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/87869e/32.png) [@An\_Arky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Arky)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2009, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-qs-about-us-66-and-travel-in-the-old-timey-days/505166/6 "2009-08-03T17:42:18Z")
I remember the checkpoint going into Mississippi from Arkansas at the Greenville Bridge operated up into the 70s. It was due to the Boll Weevil, I think. ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2009, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-qs-about-us-66-and-travel-in-the-old-timey-days/505166/7 "2009-08-03T18:57:47Z")
> [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](#): > Interstate ports of entry have been “going in and out of style” to some degree ever since the invention of the automobile. In the majority of cases, they require only commercial truckers to stop, so vacationers pay little attention. With respect to commercial trucks, the ports may screen for agricultural pests, or they may be enforcing various safety regulations or cargo restrictions. In some cases, the state stops everybody. California was indeed long notorious for this–they grow a lot of unique crops in California and are especially vulnerable to imported pests. In other cases states have stopped everybody, for a period of time, due to more local and specific concerns such as the aforementioned boll weevil. Some superficial googling indicates that the California checkpoints are falling into disuse, due more to budget cuts than anything else. ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2009, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-qs-about-us-66-and-travel-in-the-old-timey-days/505166/8 "2009-08-03T19:42:25Z")
[QUOTE=Freddy the Pig] Some superficial googling indicates that the California checkpoints are falling into disuse, due more to budget cuts than anything else. [/QUOTE] Personal experience bears this out as well. It’s been a couple of years since I was stopped at the Truckee inspection station on 80, or at Meyers on 50. However, they claim to have inspected over 29 million vehicles - 22.1 million private and 7.3 million commercial vehicles - in 2008, so they’re apparently open…sometime. Just not when I’m going through. Or maybe they’ve only been interested in people coming from Oregon and the station on 5 is always open? \ In 20 years of living here, I’ve only been actually questioned once when re-entering the state. Normally, if a station is staffed, they just wave California drivers through. ---
**Author:** ![KlondikeGeoff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3e96dc/32.png) [@KlondikeGeoff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KlondikeGeoff)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2009, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-qs-about-us-66-and-travel-in-the-old-timey-days/505166/9 "2009-08-03T20:16:10Z")
Oh yeah, every time we go to California from AZ, we pass through. They were there way back when I was a young pup in CA in the late 40s. We who go through frequently have always called them The Bug Stations.