September, 1956

In 1956, President Eisenhower signed a bill that would change America forever...the Interstate Highway Act....which was to create a freeway system all through the country...Every freeway we drive on, every green sign we see on them, even in Hawaii and Alaska, is thanks to Eisenhower....But before that, there were only two-lane highways, most famously Route 66, which winded from Chicago to LA.....with its famous quirky motels and diners, only to die on the vine, once the Interstates bypassed those towns, which is quite a shame....
Dan and Joe had become fast friends, they found themselves back in San Jose after the Korean War...Joe had married Carmen in 1953, and Dan had married Sally...they were sisters.
One day, Dan and Joe decided to drive to Bakersfield...Joe's father had moved his family out to California in the 30's from Oklahoma....from the 'Dust Bowl' during the Depression....."Okies" they called them...and still do, to this day....but Joe evolved...
On that trip that day, they drove a pickup down Highway 99, the main road that connected northern and southern California at the time. At some points it became a four-lane highway, but not an Interstate as we know it, with on-ramps, and no cross traffic....
On the way back they picked up a hitch-hiker, they told him to hop in the back of the truck.....they took the truck off-road and bounced around, and when they got back on the highway, the guy in the truck had fallen out...he was gone. They thought it was hilarious, but they were only in their 20's...
A couple years later, Dan slammed his truck into the back of a huge Chrysler and ruptured his radiator, but the Chrysler kept going, those cars were made out of iron then...so Dan drove home with a steaming radiator and fixed it on his own later...it was no big deal at the time...