driving in his 1936 packard, we talk about the grapes-of-wrath era, when writer john steinbeck described route 66 as the mother road that led so many impoverished people west in hopes of finding work. >> imagine this in the '30s, the dust bowl days. people from missouri and oklahoma with no place to stay, no food, in a model t ford truck, get on this road to go to california. >> was it almost like a convoy of people leaving here? >> oh, absolutely. a continuous stream, and, to me, this old piece of highway brings that whole history of the united states right back to you. you see the concrete on the sides? >> yes. >> those are the curbs. this is the width of route 66. >> wow. very narrow. >> this is it. so if you met that old mack truck coming the other way, you would do this. so you had 2 wheels of the car on the pavement and the other two in the gravel. >> route 66 takes us right through the center of afton, where an old 1930s gas station has been transformed into a museum for dave's antique cars and route 66 memorabilia. [horn honks] my route 66 time travel continues into the 1950s, wh

here is a tweet from john steinbeck -- we are taking your calls and comments on our facebook page. several opinion pieces on a number of different papers on this issue, on the four month anniversary of sequestration taking effect back on march 1. here is a headline from one of those opinion pieces in "the huffington post close " -- post" -- ton it is comforting to our business community that the government has been controlled go with the cuts. even the president to take action to keep our government finances from completely going off the rails. it is encouraging to see the economy respond, more housing increase investments, higher sales, increased growth, even a 4% rise in the dow since march 1. the story not our economy continues to improve, due to many factors. let us not forget the fed stimulus. too much austerity can be a bad thing but so far so good. let us hope this belt-tightening continues, it is painful, but it is working. just ask the business people. we are taking your comments and thoughts throughout this first 45 minutes of the washington journal. the texasturn to legi