John Steinbeck conceived of `` The Grapes of Wrath '' on a late 1937 summer drive on the famous highway . It was his first novel and it tells the story of migrant farm workers in California during the Great Depression, who are forced to work for low wages at an illegal labor camp called " Camp Green Lake ". Of the two destinations on Route 66 that were part of the series , one is in Needles , California , and the other is on a pre-1937 Route 66 stretch near Santa Fe , New Mexico . Although the signage is sporadic , Route 66 is properly co-designated `` the Will Rogers Highway ''
John Steinbeck conceived of `` The Grapes of Wrath '' on a late 1937 summer drive on the famous highway . It was his first novel and it tells the story of migrant farm workers in California during the Great Depression, who are forced to work for low wages at an illegal labor camp called " Camp Green Lake ". Although the signage is sporadic , Route 66 is properly co-designated `` the Will Rogers Highway ''