Q 01/05

Which 1939 novel popularised 'the Mother Road' as a nickname for Route 66?

A) The Grapes of Wrath

B) Of Mice and Men

C) The Winter of Our Discontent

D) Cannery Row

Answer · why

A) The Grapes of Wrath

The Grapes of Wrath was publicly banned and burned when it came out, including in the California county where its migrant family ends up.

Q 02/05

What 1969 film follows Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper as bikers on a cross-country road trip?

A) The Wild One

B) Easy Rider

C) Two-Lane Blacktop

D) Vanishing Point

Answer · why

B) Easy Rider

Easy Rider cost little and earned a fortune, which showed the big studios that cheap films by unconventional young directors could pay.

Q 03/05

Which president signed the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956, launching the freeway network that bears his name?

A) Dwight D. Eisenhower

B) Harry S. Truman

C) John F. Kennedy

D) Lyndon B. Johnson

Answer · why

A) Dwight D. Eisenhower

Dwight D. Eisenhower signed it quietly in hospital, with no ceremony, while being treated for an intestinal illness.

Q 04/05

What is the surname of the family in the National Lampoon vacation movies?

A) Heffley

B) Henderson

C) McCallister

D) Griswold

Answer · why

D) Griswold

Griswold family trips began in John Hughes's magazine story 'Vacation '58', where the drive ended at Disneyland, which the film changed to Walley Worl...

Q 05/05

The Big Sur stretch of California's Highway 1 runs from the Central Coast north to which town?

A) Monterey

B) Santa Cruz

C) Carmel

D) Santa Barbara

Answer · why

C) Carmel

For roughly 72 miles the road hugs the Big Sur cliffs; the whole route was only numbered SR 1 in 1964.