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Look, more rain

alright

Oh yeah, it's been a great summer here.

I'm Hello Rodney, thanks for clickin' on my video.

I just got outta bed a little while ago and

I was thinkin' about these guys, the Bikes of Wrath.

These guys are doin' a documentary

of their bicycle trip,

retracing the path of the Grapes of Wrath

from Oklahoma to Bakersfield, California.

It coulda been some guys sittin' around,

you know, havin' a few beers and,

"Oh yeah, let's get our bikes and retrace that man,

that'd be the greatest thing"

Ya know that stuff that guys always talk about

that never happens.

Something did happen, there was an idea somewhere.

And from that little seed, it actually happened

and they actually pulled it off

They actually got everything together that they needed

flew over here

got to Oklahoma,

got on their bikes and started pedaling.

Charlie: Hey Hey

I guess ultimately, we have to cycle from

from Sallisaw, Oklahoma to Bakersfield, California.

We've got 32 days to do it.

Where are we here?

We've got three hundred and sixty something dollars

starting off in the kitty.

And any other money we spend has

to be earned from our musical performances

That's the crux of it. We have 32 days to cycle 2600 K's.

I read the Grapes of Wrath

probably about five years ago now

and it's my favorite book of all time

because although it's a story

that is quite depressing at times

and quite heartbreaking, it's ultimately one

of hope and faith in humanity,

and I think Steinbeck is able

to shine a beacon of hope

that we can do better as a society.

Leon: And we thought,

let's retrace the route that

that family took in his book

and try and find out more about

the Grapes of Wrath and the Dust Bowl.

Charlie: The book is really about inequality,

about humanity and us being incapable

of looking after poor people, of having,

I guess equality in society.

Cam: I mean, that's a jump-off point for me,

relating it back to the book,

but it's also about getting to meet people

as you pass through and to just sort of

take you into their world

and show you a slice of their life.

That's sort of something that I'm really fascinated with.

- Oh my God, we're doing it.

- Old Route 66.

- I find America fascinating.

It's such an example of culture and music

But there's still these fundamental things in the country

that weren't being talked about and dealt with, you know.

During the Great Depression, and what are people,

what do they think of these issues,

do they think they're non-existent?

Do they think those things have been sorted out?

I don't know.

That's Sallisaw, and that's Bakersfield there.

- I think we should mark them.

- Doing it on a bike,

for some reason it just seemed like the right way to do it.

- Almost in a car, you're too fast.

On a bike, you notice the landscape changes.

- It would be a totally different trip

if we were in a vehicle.

- We've pretended like we're got an itinerary

and we've got it nicely mapped out in our heads,

but we've got no real idea.

- A lady that we met today said,

her number one piece of advice,

use a towel that you could wet and put it under the helmet.

To wrap around the head, yes. - Really?

Had she done much riding? - No, she hadn't.

- The most I've ever ridden on bike was I think, 20 K.

Looks good

Holy shit you look foolish.

- I was readin' the book at the time

that Charlie told me about this trip,

and it just sounded like a great way to see America,

and take a lot of photos.

Good?

- Yeah I think it's good.

- Leon and Charlie's love for the book is

what sparked this whole thing off.

But it's one element of many

that make this trip it's own unique beast.

- Yeah, I guess the plan kinda evolved,

and originally, it was just a bike ride,

and now we're making a documentary and we're busking,

but I think ultimately,

we wanna ride through these small towns in America

to really discover if all of those themes

that Steinbeck wrote about, still exist.

Final question: if you could sum up what you think this

trip is going to be in one word, what would that word be?

- To me, it will be humbling, I think.

I think it'll be a humbling experience.

- It's nice when you guys tell me what to say.

I really like that.

- Can it be hyphenated?

- If I had to pick one, it would be humongous.

- In the least clichéd way possible,

this is a life-changing trip.

- I'm gonna say chaotic, I think chaotic.

- It's gonna be a life-changing trip.

- And then the dis-possessed were drawn West,

from Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico,

from Nevada and Arkansas, families, tribes, dusted out,

tractored out, carloads, caravans, homeless and hungry,

20 thousand, and 50 thousand,

and 100 thousand, and 200 thousand.

They streamed over the mountains, hungry and restless.

Restless as ants, scurrying to find work to do.

To lift, to push, to pull, to pick, to cut.

Anything, any burden to bear for food,

the kids are hungry, we've got no place to live,

like ants scurrying for work, for food,

and most of all, for land.

If this trailer survives three thousand K's.

It's not loaded at the moment, so it feels okay, but,

it just doesn't look like it's built to

to go halfway across America.

Okay there's grandma and grandpa.

- Age down, age down.

- Pa, Ma, Noah, Tom

- Since re-reading the book, we have discovered

that the Joad family actually leaves Sallisaw

- And Connie, so that's 12 people.

- With 155 US dollars.

- In the book here, they had 155 when they left,

but they only spent 115 getting to California.

- And they slaughter and salt down two pigs.

- But we can start with a pig's worth of--

- Two pigs

- Two pigs worth of groceries

- Well hang on, they had two pigs to feed twelve mouths.

- Yeah, one pig.

- That essentially means

that once we roll out of Sallisaw, there's one kitty.

Around, I'd say three or four hundred US dollars.

- I think that's pretty...

- That's a pretty good plan.

- So, that's what we're gonna start with.

We have as much money as the Joad family began with

Inflated to today. That's our kitty and then, trying to

sing for our supper, rolling into a small town each night

and actually getting out the instruments

and tryin' to survive.

- Oh it's just out of tune.

- Why are y'all going to Sallisaw?

- The bike ride we're doing is about

the book, The Grapes of Wrath.

And that's where they were from, around that area.

- Yeah, I've lived the story my entire life,

I've been here for 58 years, I know The Grapes of Wrath.

- Do you like the book?

- The biggest problem I have is

that it gave Oklahoma kind of a black eye

for many years after that.

The book actually was written about

what was goin' on in Oklahoma at that time,

but in the 30s and the Dust bowl

and all that sort of stuff, it was really tough here.

- I'm asking, as an Australian,

about the Dust Bowl, how would you explain it?

- The gospel?

- The Dust Bowl, sorry.

- Oh, the Dust Bowl!

- Sorry, my accent, it's my accent.

- Hell, Hell came to Oklahoma and Texas.

- We over-farmed, we didn't take care of the land.

- They cut out a lot of the trees and stuff

and so there was a lot of open land,

and they thought that was good.

- When you didn't have anything to break

or irrigation like we have today,

then your farm actually moved away from you.

- And then along with no rain and high wind,

the dust was in the air and in the sky,

and it would almost block out the sun.

- You end up with it in your house,

in your mouth and throat and nose and eyes,

and covered in it, and there's no gettin' away from it,

'cause it's everywhere you go.

- There was no way to make a living on that land.

- People had to find a way to survive

and take care of their families.

- Farmers, had to, they had to vacate.

- The bank foreclosures forced 'em to move out.

- They could barely scrape sustenance together.

They had to move or starve.

- They loaded up in droves

and went to California,

just like the Joad family did in the book.

- They went out West, lookin' for,

ended up bein' laborers picking wherever they could get.

- They wanted pickers for their vegetables and stuff,

so they had some work if they could get there.

- So they made the trip.

- They didn't have anything hardly,

to get there on.

- Those folks had a struggle.

- The vehicles were bad, the roads were not good,

tires were terrible, it was hot.

- It was leaving what they thought was Heaven,

that turned into Hell.

- The most important thing to me though is

that in Oklahoma, many

of them did go find a better way,

but many of them stayed, they were very strong individuals.

Whether they left or whether they stayed,

it took a lot of strength.

- What'd they get?

God knows the land ain't no good.

Nobody been able to make a crop for years.

Them sons of bitches at their desk,

they just chop folks in two for their margin of profit.

They just cut 'em in two, places where folks live,

is them folks. They ain't whole, out 'n lonely,

on the road in a piled up car.

They ain't alive no more, them sons of bitches killed 'em.

- We're really excited to meet some people in Sallisaw,

where the Joad family lived, before we take off tomorrow.

- My mama, she could tell you whether it's accurate or not.

- She was here during the depression?

- She was here, oh yes, she's 88 year old.

- She didn't go West?

- They went to California for a while, her and my daddy.

They did everything out there.

Picked apples, picked grapes, - And then they came back.

- And then they come back.

- Because they love Oklahoma?

- Oh, you betcha.

- How would you describe Oklahoma?

- The people are good people.

- What makes them good people?

- They're home-grown, that's the main thing.

You're gonna have some that are bad,

but all around, I'd say 90%

of people are just good honest people.

Looks like I've got a customer guys, so y'all take care.

- Thanks very much.

- Thank you and y'all have a good trip.

- See you later.

- Alrighty.

- Lord, we just thank you for these young men, Lord,

that are not afraid of adventure, Lord.

I was young once too, Lord.

God, I just ask you to bless them, Lord,

that the sun would not make them melt during the day, Lord.

That they would make it all the way to Bakersfield, Lord.

In Jesus name we pray.

- Amen.

- Thank you - You bet

See y'all - See you later.

- It's very interesting the way it is.

Everybody claims to be very religious,

but what does that mean?

- What is the main denomination?

- In Sallisaw?

- Yeah.

Southern Baptist.

- Southern Baptist, okay.

- Mm hmm, yeah, very Southern baptist.

- Way Southern.

- Would you say it's a poor town?

- Absolutely, this is a welfare county,

but it's just like any other part of America.

There's a disproportionate amount of funds.

The poor are very poor, there's not much of a middle class,

and there's the 1% who has most of the money,

and control most of the economy.

- Do you think the Republicans will get into the--

- No, no.

- I reckon Hillary will win.

- Who's the Democrat?

- Hillary Clinton.

- Maybe Bernie Sanders.

Hillary will win for sure.

- If he needs a million acres to make him feel rich,

seems to me, he needs it

'cause he feels awful poor inside himself.

And if he's poor in himself,

there ain't no million acres gonna make him feel rich.

And maybe he's disappointed

that nothin' he can do is gonna make him feel rich.

- All that gear there needs to be divvied up.

- You want a second trailer?

Where else can we put this stuff?

- Should we try and get to Oklahoma City?

And then if we need another trailer

- Yeah, yeah.

- The wheels are almost buckling.

Do you think we're being naive?

- Need the pot, need the pot. - Need that pot!

- Fry pan?

- Yep.

- I'm kind of just hoping I'll get fit when I get there.

- Let's just put the stuff we're taking over here.

Gas canisters, obviously.

- I've never rode that long before.

- First aid kit?

- Nup.

- I think I am naive about what it is.

- Cam, can you explain what a life straw is?

- My understanding is that if you're really down on water

and you come across a contaminated puddle.

- Are we being naive?

- You can just pop that life straw in,

sip through it and then all of a sudden,

you're good to go.

- Yep.

Why haven't y'all left yet?

- All you gotta do is get on

that damn bike and start pedalin'.

'Right boys, y'all have a safe trip, man, God bless y'all.

Y'all take care.

- See ya boys.

- If we were on our own, I don't think we'd make it.

There's five of us, the resilience of a group of people,

or a community is pretty strong.

I reckon we'll get there.

- It's a family, it's not a friendship,

it's a family type relationship

with people not in your family,

you know what I mean?

But havin' a group of young men that can travel together

and laugh together, and live together,

that is the coolest thing in the world.

That is awesome.

- Well we're lucky to be able to do it.

I think I'm quite happy going into the unknown.

I mean that's what they had to do in the book.

It's a complete unknown at this point,

which is so very exciting.

- Highway 66 is the main migrant road.

66, the long concrete path across the country,

waving gently up and down on the map

from Mississippi to Bakersfield,

over the red lands and the gray lands,

twisting up into the mountains,

crossing the divide,

and down into the bright and terrible desert,

and across the desert, to the mountains again,

and into the rich California valleys.

- Man down!

- I'll help you.

- You got mine?

Just clipped it on the way passed.

When they fall, they fall hard. - They go down hard.

- Mine just clipped this flag and--

- Oh! Oh!

- Hang on, hang on.

- You can stay here.

- Really?

-Really?

- Just on like, throw a tent up?

- Yeah, just throw it up.

We're camping on the ranch, sir.

- What was your name?

- Chip.

- Chip? I'm Charlie.

- Charlie? - Yeah.

- Ollie. - James, nice to meet you man.

- Y'all wanna stay by a creek or somethin'?

- Is there a creek around here?

- Well fuck yeah.

- Cheers

- Thanks so much for these beers.

Are you sure you can do food?

We can go to town or--

- Yeah we can go pick up some stuff, let's do that.

- These people wanna see me do rope tricks.

- Could you lasso me if I ran down there?

- Hey, grab your gear,

'cause we need to go get all set up

by the creek before it gets dark.

Quit fuckin' with it.

- Ha ha ha ha, woo!

How are you feeling about this, Ollie?

Oh, pretty good?

We're just going down to the back of this guy's property...

...to camp.

And we just met them.

- Did we lose any bags? - Maybe.

- There you go.

- Yeah, fuck you.

I'm not sure where this outright aggression is coming from.

I mean he seems to like us...

But I think he shows that, that manifests

as cussing and quite aggressive behavior.

But we'll see, it should be good night,

down at Chip's creek.

Are you worried at all?

- No I'm not worried, I'm just wary.

Okay.

And do you think Ollie's alright?

- Uh, I think he's pretty worried.

- It's a really difficult thing,

because if we're too conservative

we're going to have no experiences.

- Absolutely.

We're in a group of people, so you've gotta listen

to everyone's opinions and views

and you've gotta take them into account,

'cause you're making decisions not for yourself and not

for one person, you're making decisions for five people.

I do agree that we're fine.

- Yeah, they're just pretty friendly and

they show it in interesting way.

- Ay everybody's got a bag of chips and a fuckin' candy bar.

- For real? - That's nice.

- Bought your grab bag of chips and candy bars

and stuff like that, there's beer in here,

and here's your change.

- Ah man, thanks, thanks guys.

- Just a little over 50% was used, so.

- Ah, cheers.

- The American dream, the American dream

was one salary was enough to buy your house

and your cars and you could go to Disney World

or wherever you wanted on vacation.

What we live in now, where two people have to work,

they're away from their children,

'cause they have to both work to survive,

and I think that dynamic's really made a big change.

Do you think the American Dream is broken, or dead?

No, that's the thing,

there's been these ups and downs throughout,

just a little over 225 years.

It's not been a long time as the country goes,

but it's emulated everywhere.

People have an idea of here.

It seems like because of that, we have more

of a responsibility to do better by the world.

- I think these burgers are pretty much

- They're good are they chef?

I made 'em extra sloppy for - Extra sloppy for you, boys.

- They're good.

- This is awesome.

Yeah, eat. You gotta pedal all day tomorrow.

- Hey thanks for having us.

- Yeah, thanks.

- This is really nice.

- Pretty cool country though.

- Yeah you guys won't have any problems.

Just, have fun.

- It's a long way.

- The way they were treated, I mean.

- Well, I don't think that the people

from Oklahoma were well-received in California.

- People tryin' to get there

and they were not really wantin' em' there.

- So I don't think they were too happy

to see a bunch of people coming in there

that were basically migrants.

- The treatment of the migrant Americans

was terrible as the treatment of migrant imported workers

was terrible at that time.

- They were outsiders, certainly outsiders.

- They weren't treated well either.

The land owners there took advantage of 'em

because of their hard luck problems.

- They were hopin' to find somethin' better.

A lot of 'em stayed, a lot of 'em were forced back out

because they weren't welcome either.

They were Okies, and that's where we get the term Okie from.

- It's like everywhere today.

You've got people comin' in and I mean,

it's like somebody's takin' your job or you know,

back then, jobs didn't pay a whole lot,

and they worked em' hard,

and I'm sure the people that had some

of those jobs probably felt

like they were bein' infringed upon

by the other people who were comin' in from Oklahoma.

- We learn from our mistakes

and people shouldn't be treated that way.

- 250 thousand people over the road,

50 thousand old cars, wounded and steaming,

wrecks along the road abandoned,

well, what happened to them?

What happened to the folks in that car?

Did they walk? Where are they?

Where does the courage come from?

Where does the terrible faith come from?

The people in flight from the terror behind,

strange things happen to them.

Some bitterly cruel, and some so beautiful

that the faith is re-fired forever.

So, $405 left, what are we gonna eat?

- Let's just get two Pop-Tarts then.

What do you guys think, chocolate fudge?

Frosted strawberry?

- Brown sugar cinnamon sounds pretty tidy.

- Oh it does.

- Is this the best we can do?

- It's dirty, like no one's questioning

how dirty this choice is.

- I just can't eat that.

I'm gonna die it for the end of the month.

There's a pound of grapes,

so there's 500 grams for a dollar, 99 cents.

- Avocado for the Pop-Tarts.

- I'll call it.

- Peanuts and butter.

- Alright let's do it.

- For real?

- This is not probably the best breakfast.

That's a shocker.

It looks great, it tastes a bit like raw meat.

Does anyone else get that?

- That's terrible.

I've got a trailer if somebody wants it?

- So you have a bike trailer?

- Yeah, it's down here about three miles,

if one of you guys can use it, well I'll give it to you.

- We're re-tracing the Grapes of Wrath,

so we started in Sallisaw and riding to California.

- For your information,

that water tower back down there,

is the oldest standing tower in the state of Oklahoma.

It's not in use, but it's the oldest tower still standin'.

- How old is it?

- I don't know.

This right there. Yeah, just open the doors and get it.

- Thank you.

- Thanks very much.

Oh yes, it's the same!

But with better wheels! - How good's that, Ol?

- We were gonna buy one in Oklahoma City for 100 bucks,

we've saved money from the kitty.

What a legend.

- Does that work?

- Yeah it's perfect!

- Thanks for lettin' us use your air.

- Thanks so much.

- Yeah man, that's so much better.

- You guys own this garage?

Jesus fuck!

We've got a flat tire.

That only takes a few pounds, man.

You're shootin' like 175 pounds in that son of a bitch.

Oh it's gonna be a big rip.

That's gonna be a new tube.

- So I've given you 40 bucks, Ollie, from the kitty.

- Thanks man.

- Don't you go and--

- Splurge

- Frivolously splurge that Al.

- We're retracing the steps

of the Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck.

- Oh yeah? Hard times.

I had a lot of people, my wife's family that lived here

that when it got to where they didn't have jobs,

and everything over here was Dust Bowl,

they all loaded up the car and took off, and they said,

what I was told, before her mother passed away,

she told me that a lot of them that went,

some of stayed and some of em' came back

and I said, it wasn't the paradise

that they were told it was gonna be.

- What do you do here, do you work in town?

- No, I'm tryin' to find a job, I just, not havin' any luck.

- So you get around on a bike?

- Yeah, on my bike or on foot. I just had to sell my bike...

To buy something to eat. And walk back a couple of weeks ago

- It's that hard to get a job?

-Yeah, it's kind of hard.

-I don't know if I caught your name?

-Tyler

- Tyler? Charlie.

Thanks so much for these.

Tyler's just gifted us with some dice from Vegas.

I just got 'em as a gift. - Will they be lucky for us?

- I hope so. - Amazing.

- Awesome. - Thanks so much man.

You're welcome.

- I'm gonna ride with them up front.

This was a good place to pop a tire.

- Aw, yes, yes!

- Thank you Dave! Wow, man.

- Thanks so much.

- You're welcome.

- Good as new.

- Y'all got a long ride.

- I know it ain't their fault.

Every person I talk to is on the move

for a damn good reason,

but what's the country comin' to?

That's what I wanna know.

What's it comin' to?

Fella can't make a livin' no more.

Folks can't make a livin' farming.

I ask you, what's it comin' to?

I can't figure her out.

Everybody I ask, they can't figure her out.

Fella wants to trade his shoes so he can get 100 miles on.

I can't figure her out.

-I know the owner of the BBQ place there in Choctaw.

-What's his name?

-Heath. He actually just had heart transplant surgery.

- You give him a call, and I'll see if I can work a deal.

- If he'll feed all these guys barbecue,

I'll give him free advertising for six months.

If he'll feed them all a meal

- In a positive way, I underestimated how friendly

and generous Americans, or Oklahomans, so far, have been.

Are you sure, we don't wanna--

- And it's good barbecue too,

he's very good at making his barbecue.

- You just don't know how to take it.

They're just so genuinely kind.

- You're more than welcome for this

and I know they're very happy

to be able to be a part of it too.

- The story I probably will tell people, when I go home,

is about the BBQ Shack.

- We heard your story and we wanted to donate.

That's a crazy amount of money.

- Donated $100, which itself is amazing enough,

but just the fact that he'd just come out of heart surgery.

- How can you afford to...?

- Well hungry guys like you come in and eat our barbecue.

And he said that what we were doing was inspirational

and I just thought, this guy's just got out of hospital.

He's just survived something he shouldn't of survived.

We've been open a little over two years, and I'll tell you,

- That's crazy.

It's been a rough ride.

I feel like that really encapsulates the generosity

that we've been shown in Oklahoma.

- Hey I'm better.

That's great news.

- I've got blood flowin' through me, I've got energy goin'

-Thank you so much.

- Thank you very much.

It's really tasty too, thank you so much.

- Can I get a picture of you guys with him?

- Yeah

- Y'all story is amazing.

- I'm super sweaty but...

- I'm so glad we're filming all of this

because I could go home and talk about it

but it just doesn't do it justice,

what people have done for us.

- I'm on steroids so I'm like a woman.

-He's on... a lot of medication

It is really powerful, I think.

People without much to give are often the ones

that give the most.

- And you'll see that. Everywhere you go.

The ones who have the least to give will give the most.

- Do you think that's part of the American character?

- A lot of it, yeah.

- Does that resonate in today's America?

- Absolutely.

- Birds of a feather flock together,

and I know that for Priscilla and I,

we grew up very poor.

- And why do you think maybe it is

that these without much are often the ones

that give the most?

- I think they have humility.

- I think they empathize with em',

like you don't have much, I don't have much

but let me share what I got.

- When you've been there and you've experienced need

and want, you can identify it

and you wanna meet that need if you're able to.

- In order for us to survive, we have to act as a group,

we have to be part of each other's struggle.

- You don't have to look far

to have somebody help ya.

- I grew up that way, people helping people.

- If I need something done,

I've got two or three neighbors that'll come over here

and help me get it done.

If they need something, I help them, and none of us is rich.

- So we have to stand up

and we have to work harder, we have to give more,

because if not, they'll just stereotype us,

'ah, they're just poor trash'.

- But if you're a CEO on Wall Street,

you don't need anybody.

- Where the rich man might just give a dollar,

the poor person might give their last dollar.

Just to help out.

So I don't think that's died yet.

I think there's still a lot of good people in this country.

We just need to show that there's more good than not.

- I'm Katherine.

- Katherine is it? I'm Cameron.

- Hi, Cameron.

- I'm Charlie - There are stories of my

mother when she was a baby,

that they would wet a sheet and put it over her crib,

and wet the sheets and put em' up in the windows,

so the dust wouldn't come through.

Anything you want for breakfast.

- Thank you so much.

- Oh no way!

- It was good to meet you guys.

- The only reason we won't get to California is

because people are so friendly.

- Cold, right outta the fridge - Thank you so much.

- They might need some ice!

- Oh, yes. Thank you.

- Other than hard physically, for you guys,

it's a little different now.

I mean, there's so many people

that are parked between here and there

that are glad to have you guys coming through.

- We're just goin' from Tulsa to Las Vegas,

then over to LA and just kind of seein' the West Coast.

- Cool, what's your name?

- David

- David, I'm Cameron.

- Good to meet you Cameron. - You too.

- Leon? - Yeah, nice to meet you.

- And I'm Charlie.

- Charlie? Man you guys are fantastic.

It's pretty cool. - Thanks so much.

- That's something you'll remember a life time.

- Yeah, that's it.

- Tell you what, I'd like

to contribute 100 bucks to what you're all doin'.

- 100 dollars that's ludicrous!

Hey, absolutely, I've been to Perth and Sydney.

- We now have more money in the kitty

than what we started with

because of the generosity of Oklahomans.

- Absolutely - Thank you very much.

- Hey, that is so small compared

to what you guys are doing, you know what I mean?

- Quite incredible.

- That's just a contribution to success.

- About five miles back, I fell off my bike

and went down really hard on my left arm

and it's making some weird noises.

And I can't quite turn it all the way

and I don't wanna think about it too much,

but someone with first aid experience

is gonna wanna do some tests on me.

- Is there any pain at the top?

- Nup.

- Just try and press down a little bit, in my hand.

See if it hurts.

If it hurts just tell me to stop.

That's really good.

Nothing's fractured,

'cause I was getting right into your bone.

- Yeah, and it's?

- And right into everything around your wrist,

so it's totally fine.

Give it a night see how it goes.

- That is swollen.

- Hold your hands together.

- Ah.

- That's swollen.

- Should we put a compression bandage on that?

- I'd love to put something on it. Is that possible?

Fuck.

What are you thinking this is?

Still a sprain?

- Ah, I'm not a doctor.

I can assure you I'm not exaggerating this,

the last thing I fuckin' need on this trip, is this.

- No, it doesn't look like you are, man.

- It's like near impossible to move it in,

pretty much every direction it needs to go.

- You gonna be able to ride?

- I've been riding all morning.

I just kinda need to know that it's gonna go away.

Unless it's fractured or something.

Hello, I fell off my bicycle

and this arm of mine is in a lot of trouble.

- Don't do it. We'll do it outside, Red.

- We don't wanna get kicked out. Red!

- Red, no. Turn it off, please.

- Ben Ed, are we gonna pick up your pick up,

so we can pick up the other guys?

- Yeah. - Then I'll drive.

- So at the moment, we're getting a ride

with some very friendly Texans.

We're gonna go catch up with the rest of the group.

Let em' know what's going on.

- These lovely people are more than happy

to put us up for this evening.

- Sorry what was your name?

- Ben Ed.

- Ben-- - Ben. Ed.

- Ben Ed and Lee Ann.

- Okay, it is a short ride to our house.

Everything that we can't ride with, put it in this truck.

- Thank you so much.

- First town in Texas, isn't it?

-Yeah

- That's three times Ben Ed has said.

I've asked him a question, he said, "It's Texas."

That's his answer: "It's Texas."

- What's the go?

- Fracture.

Two weeks.

- No riding.

- Well...

- I feel like as a group, we're pretty strong,

we'll stay together, no matter what happens.

So, if one of us can't make it,

I feel like the rest of the group

would call the trip there as well.

- We could stop at this church and get a free meal.

And they would think that that was wonderful.

- So where are we going to now?

This is the..?

- This is the Cornerstone Church.

They had a 4th of July celebration this morning.

- I've probably got a really romanticized idea about

what small town America is like.

I kind of just picture us rolling up into a town

and they'll be homely and generous

and they'll invite us in for dinner and--

- I've got one plate for one of y'all already.

- Oh, really?

- Who wants the first plate?

- There'll still be a kind of 1930's community vibe.

- I'm just sorry for all the good food that you've missed.

- His dad helped build Route 66.

- Oh really?

- But, we might get there

and there might be Walmarts and McDonalds

and communities that aren't as open as we would hope.

- This was the Dust Bowl.

It was quite a time in our history.

- I've been here since '39.

- Since '39?

- Yeah.

- Within, what? 30, 40 mile?

- Well, within a, yeah, 20 mile

- 20 mile radius? - Mile radius?

There was no revenue for it.

I mean nobody could make anything off of it.

There was no rain.

Most of em' found work, eventually.

I mean, they started at the very bottom,

gathering vegetables and gathering fruit

was probably as low as you could get

and they were treated like less than human.

- And you're still farming today?

- Still farming. - Still doing it,

and you're 84?

- Yeah.

- Have you ever though of leaving or this is you?

- No, this is home.

- This is it?

-Yup

- "Sure", cried the tenant man, "but it's our land.

"We measured it and broke it up.

"We were born on it, we got killed on it, died on it.

"Even if it's no good, it's still ours.

"That's what makes it ours, being born on it,

"working it, dying on it, that makes ownership,

"not a paper with numbers on it."

- Two weeks in total in the sling, yep,

then the next two, three days, he needs to rest with it.

So in a Joad family kind of way?

- Yeah, yeah I do.

I do think that we'd stay together as a tight little unit.

What we're doing is riding on roads with trucks

going seventy-five miles an hour

is sort of risky enough as it is.

To do it one-handed I think would be reckless.

- And because of that, I think we will make it.

Lee Ann, she just said to me...

if you want, you can stay here one or two nights,

and they could drop you in the next town,

or even in Amarillo?

- Wow - Wow

- I don't think if something happens to one person

that four will go on and one,

that's not in the nature of the book,

and I don't think it's gonna be in the nature of this trip.

- The four of us will definitely ride out tomorrow at 5am.

- One last question for you.

If Cameron rocks-up in two days time at

the meeting point in Amarillo,

and can't ride a bike?

- Get him one of those side-karts.

- Night all. Thanks so much.

- I've been really overwhelmed

with what we've received from them

and how willing they are to help.

- Don't forget the cinnamon bread.

- We can pack that?

- Yeah, it's yours

- How much should we take?

- All of it?

Oh yeah, it's really good. - You might leave a bite for Cam

- It's just been the most warm

and welcoming experience that I've ever had

and we're only eight days in.

- Thank you so much.

- Yeah, thank you so much.

- Thank you so much.

- Good to meet all of you. Be safe.

- Maybe it was all men and all women we love.

Maybe it was the Holy Spirit, the human spirit,

the whole she-bang.

Maybe all men got one big soul.

Everybody's part of it.

Now I sit and think, and all of a sudden, I know it.

I know it deep down that it was true, and I still know it.

How you feeling?

- Ah, not great.

Feeling a bit down.

Fuck you! fuck you!

- What? - You just kicked my foot.

- Well I didn't mean to!

- I know.

I didn't mean to insult you but fuck it hurts.

- Well I'm sorry.

I think it's because of the exhaustion

and the early start in the cold, in the rain.

Something teared in my leg or I don't know what happened

but I felt this sudden sharp pain around my calf

and now it's all the way to my butt cheek,

and my thigh, and my toes.

It's gonna be rainy and cold all day.

We have another 44 miles to do,

and another three states to cross,

but it's gonna be fine.

One option is... we continue riding as a group of four.

Second option is we call Cam and ask if it's a possibility

that Ben Ed and Lee Ann when they're dropping Cam off

in Amarillo, maybe they could come via here and pick you up.

- And we could possibly find somewhere else in this town...

Like a library or something?

- Yeah.

- I hate you.

- Droppin' like flies.

Just the three of us, and then there were three.

- Three people.

- Have you torn a muscle

or have you strained a muscle?

- Ah, torn a muscle.

- He's torn a muscle.

The option is that Red can go back

to Lee Ann and Ben Ed's house for a few days

to re-cooperate and then,

they've got a vehicle that they're gonna lend us

to get Red out to wherever we are.

Sort of feels like it's in their nature

to just take people in and look after them and help out.

That could make all the difference,

those two days of rest and just not moving it.

- How you doing?

- How you doing? - I'm Ollie,

- I'm Ricky. Nice to meet you.

I don't mind a bit.

- Really? That's so nice.

- How's your hand?

- I've got that much and I've got that much,

- Well that's just enough.

- That's all I need.

- You don't need to brake, right? On this trip. You're good.

- Keep stretching.

- Yeah you too, get your leg better.

- We rode for 65 miles yesterday with trailers

and it way okay cause it was pretty flat

but they're just a pretty big burden

and they slow us down quite a bit

cause the two bikes without trailers can go a lot faster,

they have to kind of crawl behind

Leon, could you describe to me

why there's been in such a move towards

culling everything we've ever owned?

- Yesterday we bumped into another cyclist

- I'm from China, Beijing!

and he was traveling so, so light.

- Such a light bike.

You go and just pick his bike up with one hand.

It was an aluminum frame,

he had two panniers on the back,

two tiny water bottles

And that's the other thing

he gave us all these gifts!

So, not only was he traveling light,

but he was carrying gifts for everyone.

- Oh, nice!

It was unbelievable!

It's the instruments mainly, isn't it?

- Yeah.

The ground that he had covered in one day

takes us two days to cover.

I think we all just left after that,

just thinking, why are we carrying so much weight?

We've gotta get rid of these trailers.

- So, we're gonna try and busk as much as we can.

- We're gonna get rid of the guitars, drum kits.

- Our trailers, if we can.

- I think the new plan will work.

More than that, I think it's our very best shot

so if that doesn't work, no other plan will.

- But this thing's just getting in the way now.

I just... why can't I get extension?

- I can't, ah! - Happened three days ago.

- It's just like lifting it up to there...

- Don't do it then.

- Is that as straight as it can go, Cam?

- Red's been away, nursing his injury,

back with Lee Ann and Ben Ed,

so he's rolling in, hopefully refreshed

and ready to keep shooting.

- Have we been spoilt?

- Yeah, definitely.

We've definitely been spoilt.

I mean, we didn't really need to busk for the first,

we still haven't needed to, really.

We just didn't factor in headwind.

On the other side of Santa Rosa there's a nasty storm...

could only see about thirty feet in front of me.

- It's comin' at us!

- It's gonna be at Santa Rosa before you get there.

- Do you think we'll make it to

Santa Rosa before the storm?

- No, look, I don't think we will

and that's not being pessimistic,

I just, I can see it right there

and we've got a long, long way to go.

- You're so welcome.

- Oh, these are good bananas too!

- Today's been the biggest slog for all of us.

If we can get to the other side in one piece,

that'll be great.

- Seen that lightening?

- Oh, yeah.

- I think we're doing the right thing.

- It's not dangerous,

we're not doing anything dangerous.

- Sure, but I feel like we should be in shelter

if this turns around.

- We're traveling into this storm and it is coming at us,

and this headwind, I've never experienced anything like it.

The only time, I think on this entire trip,

we've taken a team vote.

Do we keep pushing on, or do we head back?

And if it's three versus two.

We ride back with the tailwind, now.

We do two miles in about a minute.

It's going to be a funny scene though in the documentary,

like us riding-out heroically into the storm.

- And then just carting... us just like...

- Did you get footage of us coming back, Red?

- Yep, oh yeah.

- I put in some hard yards, so that crushed me,

that I had to turn around.

- Given that we had to back track there,

and then stay the night in an old, abandoned barn,

we thought we'd try our hand at busking the next day.

- Opens at 6:30 tomorrow,

so we should be set up to go at like eight.

This town is a town called Newkirk,

which is just one post office slash gas station,

owned by this enigmatic character

and he did say we could do it, so we got his clearance?

- Yeah, I asked him.

- Yeah, and he's cool?

- I said "You keen for some music tomorrow?"

He said, "Yeah, whatever you guys reckon,

"whatever you want."

He's like, really nice but, doesn't believe at all in us.

"Yeah, sure.

If you idiots think you can"!

- Holy Spirit, we just draw in your spirit,

universal spirit, and allow them to be blessed

everywhere they go, everything that they do,

thank you Holy Spirit for what you're doing

for these young men and allow them to have a fascinating,

hallelujah,

fascinating experience, and so it is, amen.

And I'm universal, I'm not...

I love you guys, I want to eat you up, I want to eat you up!

- Thanks, Olly.

- Safe travels.

- Are you guys gonna hang around for a song?

- We don't have enough money, in my opinion,

to just go and sell our gear and ride,

so we will need to busk and we'll need

to make a few hundred dollars, I think.

- Yeah, I am looking forward to busking,

but I'm a little tentative about it,

because it will be a challenge for me.

It is not something that I would normally want to do.

By your side [singing]

I only want to be by your side [singing]

- Awesome!

- Thanks brother!

Whoa!

- Would you like to request a song?

We've only got six, so.

- Which six do you have?

- Chances are you won't... get the song you want

- That's a good start

- We've got twenty seven in a half hour.

- You guys crank it up, you sonova' bitches!

- Let's play around.

- I thought max $50.

I thought that would be a pretty good outcome.

- I thought we were capable

of maybe pulling in 100, to possibly just over?

- Thanks so much

- And it really did start to get busy

and we just had this blitz of a run

in the first hour or so I think it was

We at one point counted $100

and we had been doing it for an hour and a half

- Pretty good music.

- How's it going?

We're getting rid of the instruments today.

Are we going to get rid of them today?

- Surely.

- Well we're not carrying them.

- I also think we gotta give our main man a percentage

or buy a lot of food from him, or something.

I'm giving you your cut.

- Did you guys already finish?

- Well, unless there's another rush through,

we're gonna have to hit Santa Rosa before we leave

but we made $150 even.

- No, go ahead.

- No, no, no.

- Thank you so much for letting us busk out in front.

I mean, your gas station's what brings people here,

it certainly wasn't us.

- Good luck.

- Thanks for your hospitality.

- Thank you very much.

- So you've been here for 40...

- Six years.

- 46 years?

- Were your parents here beforehand?

- No.

- How did you end up here?

- I took the wrong turn in Albuquerque.

I definitely didn't think anyone would...

...want to buy the instruments.

- Do it baby, do it!

-Do you play guitar?

-I play a little bit

-Are you interested in buying one?

We are selling all this

He should be busking instead of us

-Yeah I feel like the people out here are nicer

but I mean as long as your heart is in the right place

and God knows your heart and what you want to do

and you're staying on that course.

So that's what I'm trying to do cause I know my faith wasn't as strong at one point

So I'm gonna pray for you guys so that way you guys

make it to where you're supposed to go safe and sound.

-Thank you

-Cause if your heart is in the right place

and you love what you do, then it shouldn't be a problem

- Make an offer and it's all yours.

Ah, wow.

- That one there, right?

The one that you were jammin' on?

- Yeah.

- We sold that one for $40 with case

and a few extra sets of strings.

- I'm gonna have to get on outta here,

but nice to meet you.

- Thank you.

- Enjoy the guitar, good luck.

- Alright, man.

-Good luck with your studies

-'Preciate it

- Howdy howdy!

We're about to head on out...

- Good luck guys.

- Thank you.

We've got all these instruments here

and we don't really wanna take them with us.

We were wondering if you wanted to maybe,

if you're interested you could buy them cheaply?

- If you're interested,

any offer you'd make would be great.

Cause we just really can't take them much further.

- So we've got this snare.

Don't worry about any of the prices on it.

- You won't be able to make any money.

- We're done, we're gonna hit the hills.

- We're trying to rush to California.

- Oh, okay.

I don't wanna embarrass ya (laughs).

- Make us an offer.

- It won't embarrass us.

- It won't be embarrassing, no, it won't be.

- 60 bucks.

- Done. - Sold.

- Done.

Thank you, man.

- Had a really... big crack at having a busk...

Raise some money, get rid of the trailers and push on.

- Greatest decision we've ever made.

- What a day.

So do we still have trailers? - Gone! They're done!

- Cut 'em loose, cut 'em loose!

- When they're all working together,

not one fella for another fella,

but one fella kind of harnessed to the whole she-bang.

That's right, that's holy.

- Here's some people.

We'll see, well maybe these people,

I bet ya these people are getting off the road.

- They're touring, they're touring bikes.

- You're in our way buddy, move it.

Move out of the way.

Dude, I'll run over you, cause I'm bad,

I'm bad to the freakin' bone here.

- Thank you for not running over the bicyclists.

Oh that guy's goin' for it.

Oh, they're all goin' for it, so we'll go check em' out.

How long you been out here?

- This is day 16?

- 16, yeah, halfway.

- Halfway?

- When we get to Albuquerque, we'll be halfway.

- I'll see you guys outside

with a little stash of bananas for you.

- We'll happily accept those.

- Okay, I'll see you guys outside.

- Pleasure meeting you.

- Okay, nice meeting you guys.

- Thanks so much.

- Just quickly, before you take off as well,

are you happy to be on camera?

- Yeah, I have a YouTube channel, Hello Rodney.

- Hello Rodney?

- Hello Rodney's my YouTube channel.

I'm doin' a video of you guys too,

so, yeah it's alright.

These are the guys,

this is the Bikes of Wrath crew, right here.

- We're just ridin' hard

for 32 days, hoping we get there.

- That's good, man.

I'm very happy that you guys are out doing this.

It makes me feel really good to see you guys.

- Thanks.

- Alright, well I tell you what, man, thanks a lot.

I'm Hello Rodney, thanks for watching,

and these are the Bikes of Wrath.

See you later.

Okay, well this is probably one of my best videos

that I've ever done as far as, talking to people,

stuff like that. These guys were so cool.

- Thank you so much.

- Of course. No, I'm so happy to help.

- It's not "of course" though, it's super generous of you.

- America's the best place in the world to live.

- America's the best place in the world--?

- Best place in the world to live, right

- Why is it the best place in the world to live?

- Cause you got some basic human rights,

you know what I mean?

They got their assholes up there

in the government that're fuckin' things up.

- What makes America great, in my opinion,

is whether we have a President Obama, a Bush,

a Clinton, or a Donald Trump,

America's bigger than just one person,

it's bigger than just one President.

- The less wealth you have, the harder it is to advance

and to become what you know, as a person,

you're capable of becoming.

- But bottom line is,

you still got some human rights out here.

- Do you think they're being crumbled away or...?

- Well, little by little, the bull shit government, man.

You know what I mean, they're worried about too much

over seas and shit, fuck all that.

You got people over here dying, ain't got no homes and shit.

- I do believe that Americans are generous people

and they're accepting people.

I think America does a good job.

I think our social systems is not perfect,

but I think they do a pretty good job

of helping the poor and needy.

- The wealth gap is very much still real.

It's real in ways of health care

and career development and social advancement.

- And I think that's the beautiful thing about

whether he's a Republican or she's a Democrat,

our neighbors, it's all being together

and working together for the common good of man

and I think that's what makes America great.

- I just walk, man. I don't belong nowhere, man.

- Where are you walking to?

-I was gonna walk to Seattle,

but I'm just tryin' to outrun my voices, man.

The voices in my head, they tear me up.

I haven't had nothin' to eat in three days

and I'm afraid to ask people because I feel ostracized.

- We've got some tins of food.

- You wanna have lunch with us?

- Aw, you don't have to do that, man.

- No, of course.

- Thank you for the water. - We got plenty to go around.

What's your name?

- My name's Joe.

- Joe? I'm Cameron, Joe.

- Hey, nice to meet you.

- Nice to meet you too.

- Can you head back to Roswell?

- What for? There ain't nothin' there,

I'd do the same thing here, I'd be on the streets.

I ain't got nowhere to go.

Sorry.

- You're alright, man.

- I just haven't had anything in for me in days, days.

- Where'd you sleep last night?

- There's a river over there, I slept underneath the bridge.

- It's 56 miles to the next town.

I don't think you can get there today...

Back here, the Petrol Station...

- I was there yesterday and they asked me to leave.

They don't want homeless people there.

It's schizophrenia, man, there ain't no fixin' it.

I don't know what to do, I just keep on walkin', man.

- Let us help you. We can take you down there...

- We can find some people.

Right now, we can see a place where there's food and water,

safety shelter, some shade,

it's gonna get hotter today.

We've gotta get you back there, mate.

I know you don't wanna do it but we've gotta do it,

that's what we gotta do.

- What do ya say? - Give it a shot?

What if I call an ambulance of something?

- We don't know where we are.

- How much does an ambulance cost?

He's not going to be able to cover it, I don't think.

I don't know what they do in those cases.

Such a... that that's a cost they have to consider...

- Please don't call.

They'll put me in a mental asylum.

I don't wanna go, I don't wanna lose my freedom!

I don't wanna lose my freedom.

I didn't call. I hung up. It's all good.

I don't wanna lose my freedom.

That's why... don't call.

- Let's get away from the highway, hey?

Look, I'm already prepared to die.

Say 100 thousand people, right there,

just talking trash about you,

gathered around you, and they're sayin',

"We don't want you here. We don't need you here.

"We don't like you're kind here."

I can't deal with it no more.

So I started on this death march.

I knew what I was doing when I took no water, no food.

- Joe, when we go down there,

we're gonna get some help for you as well, okay.

Do you understand that?

- I'm sayin' man that I believe that people are after me.

- Well I have to go get some water now, Joe,

so I'll be back in a moment, but we're gonna get some help

for you, do you understand that?

Are you happy for that to happen?

- I found it quite hard,

that day we met Joe on the side of the highway,

I think that really hit home with me.

People falling through the cracks

and what a horrible feeling that would be, to be

that alone and feel like you've got no one to talk to.

- Where ya' from?

- Australia. I can give you my address if that helps?

- Well we can try.

- I think the Police did an excellent job

and it was resolved really well, but,

it still just kind of reminded me

that there are probably millions of people in America,

in that situation or a similar one.

- There is a crime here that goes beyond annunciation.

There is a sorrow here that weeping can not symbolize.

There is a failure here that topples all of our success.

Our people are good people, our people are kind people.

Pray God, someday kind people won't all be poor.

- On the rear tire, always on the rear tire.

- I think it might be time for that rear tire to...

...retire.

- Classic Ollie, I mean put your hands up, who's with him?

Is he right?

- He's not wrong.

- Do you think America, 80 years on,

is any better at showing empathy

for these poor desperate people?

- I think that there are a lot of people who show empathy.

- Just depends, some are not and some are.

- Absolutely.

- No, I don't.

- Better, not better take care of our people.

- Oh, it'd be hard to say.

There is some inequality, really there is,

but not like that.

- By and large in America, no.

- I feel like when you're in a depression

and whenever things are bad

and you don't have money like you used to,

or something happens, you have to turn

and you have to blame somebody else.

- We're all trying to pull away from each other.

Instead of being Americans, we're Anglo-Americans,

Afro-American, Mexican-American, Puerto Rican-American,

instead of just being American.

- In America, a specific group

of people did a really good job

of putting the blame on scapegoating immigrants.

- Immigrants are still treated like aliens,

they're treated like something that's not human.

- It's not America, because a lot

of Americans are very patriotic,

it can never be America, it's the others.

- Let Africa take care of them son of bitches

and we'll take care of ours over here.

And keep your nose out of other country's business, eh.

- Some welcome immigrants from Mexico, from Canada,

from other parts of the world,

and then some are just like, build that wall, keep em' out.

- The younger generations are seeing that that's not true

and we're more inclusive and we're more helpful

and we want everyone to have dignity.

- To be treated like you're not welcome

when you're just trying to make your life

what you want it to be, what you feel it could be,

is ridiculous, it's unfortunate and it's really absurd.

- We just need to come together as a nation.

There's a multiple of reasons why we're pulling apart,

but if we don't come back together,

it's gonna be just like the '60s again,

when people were rioting in the streets.

People were dying all the time, we don't want that.

We want to get away from that.

We want to be one country, whether it's this president,

or the next president, or the one after,

something's gotta change where we all come together.

- On the right, on the right, thanks mate.

- If you're travelin' from out of the country,

I make you feel welcome, if you'd like.

- Wow, that would be amazing.

- Sure, the blessing falls on the house.

Come on in, these here folks, they believe in Jesus

and it's okay, everything's good here.

- Lovely town.

- Yeah, it's a quiet little town.

You're touring in the right area.

We've been playin' music here all day

and they had some eats.

This lady over here is Melinda, the big lady,

and when you're ready to go, just follow me home

and I'll fix ya' up a nice place, so you can sit still.

- Fantastic.

- Hello, how you doin'?

Thank you for welcoming us.

- Yay, welcome!

- This is awesome.

- Well my dad actually,

actually came down route 66 during the depression

and when he got to California,

they wouldn't let him just go to work,

they put him in a Okie camp,

and my mother was a spinster recreational director,

she would go to these camps and create music

and little plays and kinda help entertain the Okies

and so, her and my dad got together

and then, hello, that's me.

- Food?

- Thank you so much.

- Amazing, of course.

- Five, you got enough, yeah.

- Yeah, it's great.

- Those melons, their kinda gettin' ripe,

so if you want any of those melons,

you can have those too.

- Really? You're not gonna use them?

- No, no, we just put food out for people who wanna eat it.

- Thank you for stopping in.

- Wow, thank you for having us.

Buckskin Dan.

- Dan is the type of guy that should live in the middle

of Australia somewhere and only occasionally,

people will go by and see him.

- His property, when we got there...

- There's so many trees there,

I grew a forest, it took 20 years to grow a bunch of trees.

So when there's folks like you come in,

there is a place to kinda lay low

Let me see if I can find the right key here.

There, watch yourself,

we're almost our own sheriff out here.

- Is that right?

- I gotta unload the guns from the truck now,

put em' in the house.

That's a sight!

- This is quite a place.

- He's got a barbed wire fences up,

not to keep out animals, but to keep the government out.

Now if you wait right here, I'll get ya' in the back

of this wagon, right here.

- Whoa, wow!

- And there's a mattress here.

- Wow.

- He parks all these old carriages

and wagons and cars in front of his house,

so the government couldn't put a rifle over his fence

and shoot into his cabin.

- One of you wanna climb up here

and plug this in.

There you go.

Watch yourself! - Wow

- It's easy to get hurt, you're in pioneer area.

- You okay?

- Watch what you're doin', you can get hurt doin' this.

You just gotta really kinda think things through.

If you get this far out, even where we live here,

you're in a Western area and it's pioneer,

so just a little mistake like pettin' a snake,

doin' the wrong thing, pickin' up a crow feather

that's got bubonic plague on it.

You gotta watch what you're doin'.

Just be careful,

and be happy and be glad.

- Thank you so much.

Three hours of sleep is not enough.

No sir, it's not.

- Out here people stick up for each other.

We don't get run over by the federal government

and their weirdened ways.

When you're American, you think for yourself.

If you don't believe in what they're doin',

you don't participate.

You don't fight with them cause everybody else voted

for em', but you don't go there

and have bad words about em'

and share that with other people.

You can at your own home.

- Thanks very much, Dan.

- You got everything you guys?

- Yep thank you so much.

- Remember, mercy, faith, hope, kindness

and most of all, love.

If they aren't that, they're no good.

Just keep ridin'.

Love you guys. Happy trails.

- Thanks Dan, see ya' mate.

- Not a big fan of all the weapons,

but hey, it's open range.

When I was a little boy on my Daddy's knee [singing]

He said, my son what you wanna be [singing]

When you're all grown up [singing]

Well I jumped right down, [singing]

I said, I wanna be a rodeo clown [singing]

Cause they're a horn tease 'n hookey [singing]

Tail grabbin' looketies [singing]

A bull fightin' rodeo clown [singing]

Cowboys, britches, in the ditches [singing]

Pull em' out for the misses [singing]

Life savin' rodeo clown [singing]

Rather bakin', danger cravin', bone jurn, cabble savin' [singing]

Life savin' rodeo clown [singing]

Cowboy down on the ground [singing]

Save his hide for one more round [singing]

Bull fightin', life savin', rodeo [singing]

I wanna be a rodeo clown [singing]

My momma was trouble and my daddy was sad [singing]

They wanted more for their little lad [singing]

Than hoofs and hides and the wanderin' life [singing]

Lived by a rodeo clown [singing]

So I married a pretty girl [singing]

She gave me a son [singing]

It was the greatest thing I'd ever done [singing]

I put him on my knee, I says what you wanna be [singing]

He says I wanna be a rodeo clown [singing]

So I moved into the country [singing]

He became a buckaroo [singing]

A ropin' and a brandin', and a ridin' Broncos too [singing]

He rode those Broncos to the world's greatest show [singing]

The National Finals Rodeo, [singing]

- Right there in Las Vegas, Nevada

Well there are, cowboys, bitches in the ditches [singing]

Pull em' out for the misses [singing]

Life savin' rodeo clown [singing]

Cowboy down on the ground [singing]

Save his hide for one more round [singing]

Bull fightin', life savin', rodeo [singing]

I wanna be a rodeo clown, that's right [singing]

- Hey, check this out.

- Y'all look like y'all been travelin' about 50 miles

- Say you came from Oklahoma, how many days you been ridin'?

- We did just travel 50 miles.

- Legs look like Lance Armstrong on this motherfucker

I mean y'all strapped down.

I don't see how you're all doin' it man like...

-When you sleep you just, you got your camping gear

and you just sleep out like that?

-Yeah that's right.

-Y'all the new breed.

Peaceful. Y'all the new hippies to me. I'm sorry like.

Never seen no shit like this before in my life

He eatin' canned goods!

I know damn well that dude got a fuckin' house

He got a house and a home, y'all got careers,

y'all seem like y'all fuckin' smart as shit,

Like ya'll chose to do this on a humbug,

I'm like, I do this cause I got to.

Bikes of Wrath, y'all, Bikes of Wrath,

y'all ever seen anything like it?

They campin' on bikes with solar panels on the back.

- Where you guys travelin' from, man?

- Bakersfield.

-Bakersfield?

-Look at 'em! There's solar panels on the back of 'em

- You're almost there, take that 58, bam!

[laughing]

- Just like that?!

- Take that 58, bam!

- God bless y'all man.

Like do enjoy your journey.

- Good luck, man. - Y'all cold blooded, bro.

- Peace out.

- The woman's just asked us to move,

the women that runs the Pilot Truck Stop.

It's like five minutes to 11,

we've all been aleep for about 10 minutes.

So now we gotta pack up all the stuff,

move all the bikes, it's gonna take at least another hour

to re-locate, and then bunker down again

and we gotta be up at 4:30 tomorrow morning,

so this is absolutely gonna screw us.

Anywhere, we're under the lights, we don't care,

we'll sleep fuckin' anywhere.

So exhausted.

I don't know where else we can go,

We've just got to move our shit.

- Says one time, he went out into the wilderness

to find his own soul and he found,

he didn't have no soul that was his.

Says he found he just got a little piece

of a great big soul.

Says the wilderness ain't no good,

cause his little piece of a soul wasn't no good,

unless it was with the rest and was whole.

- I knew the chances were small,

but it'd be kinda cool, just

to see you guys on the way back,

cause you're like what, three

or four days away from ending your trip?

- Yeah.

- This is day, isn't it day 25 today?

- Yeah, it seems like you've done

so much since we've seen you.

You've been all over the country.

- Yeah, all over, huh.

- So we moved out here behind all the trucks

and just as we were going to sleep,

we saw this big group of people walking over to us,

it was kind of scary.

- It turns out, it was this family we met on,

I think day five in Oklahoma.

- Tell you what, I like to contribute 100 bucks

to what you're all doing.

Absolutely, I've been to Perth and Sydney.

- David and the little one were praying

that we would run into you guys.

- Yeah, and I though, man it'd just be so cool,

and then we were getting gas

and I went in and talked to the lady behind the register,

I said, "Hey, have you heard of the Bikes of Wrath?"

and she said, "No."

And I said, "Well it's five guys from Australia,

"flew in, they're biking across from Oklahoma."

They thought you guys were crazy, they're like,

"On bicycles?" I said, "Yeah, on bicycles,"

and I said, "I think they're somewhere around here,"

and she goes, "Well they're actually behind here,

"behind the parking lot."

- Aww, that's so nice.

- Well hey man, we'll let you guys get some rest

cause we know you got a huge long day, hot day tomorrow.

Well, hey--

- No, no, no, no, no...

- That's why I wanted to find you guys,

we wanna be a part of this,

just like a lot of people across the country.

- You already are a part of it

- I know, but listen, a lot

of people across the country's been a part of it

and I wanna give another hundred.

That's why I wanted to find you guys,

is to be a part of the last part of your trip.

- Really, really helped us out.

We were really struggling at that moment.

- It was a lot more than the money,

it was the fact that this family from Oklahoma,

they met us on day five.

They were just so positive and so enthusiastic about

what we were doing, that they would go out

of their way at midnight to find us at the back

of a gravel pit of a truck stop.

- You look like you've lost some weight.

- Come say hello, wish us good luck

and they were just so happy for us.

- Thank you so much

- Good seein' ya.

- It's so awesome how you came and met us, really special.

Thank you so much.

- This has capped off our vacation.

It just, it's cool, so alright guys.

- We'll never forget it.

Thanks for all your help.

- Hey, it's been our pleasure.

I mean, I'm just glad I didn't miss out on the opportunity

to see you guys again and it's just a small thing

to be a part of what you guys are doing so big.

- You've been a big part.

- Yeah, you've been a huge part.

Thank you so much.

- Nice meetin' y'all.

- I think that, in all honesty,

this was probably, that was one

of the most special parts of the trip so far.

- In 1936, we left Oklahoma.

We meant my parents, grandmother, three sisters, and myself.

Those years of drought, wind, and dust,

as well as low prices and no work

for even the most pitiful wages,

there was not much left to stay for.

- Leon's good.

- Ah, he hasn't had breakfast today?

- Ahh, he didn't want to stop for food because Leon...

Isn't eating.

- Fasting for one day.

- I'm curious why you're deciding to fast for one day?

- All these people in The Depression

that were making their way over here were really struggling

for food and nutrition and stuff.

- God that last bit you're holding looks just divine.

No no, please enjoy...

Put myself in those shoes and see what it feels like.

It's not particularly fun.

It's been 24 hours, how are you feeling?

Ready for a meal.

Plain oats never tasted so good.

Has your perspective on the book

and what people went through changed?

- Yeah, no, not changed but

it's easy for us because we're riding to Bakersfield

and when we get to Bakersfield,

we get to go back to our normal lives,

with money and comfortable beds

and that sort of stuff and these people

that were doing this, migrating,

they would get to Bakersfield, with no money,

and they have to keep living.

I can't imagine what it would have felt like to be a parent,

struggling to provide for your children

with the most basic of meals, so they could just survive.

- They were land-hungry.

Ill-armed hoards too, and the legions couldn't stop em'.

Slaughter and terror didn't stop em'.

How can you frighten a man

who's hunger's not only in his own cramped stomach,

but in the wretched bellies of his children.

You can't scare him.

He's known a fear beyond every other.

- Do you think there are any lessons,

and if so, what are they, to be taken

from the novel, but also, it's a historical event,

as well, or historical tragedy really, what happened.

Any takeaways, what would they be?

- Be good to your fellow man.

Man's in trouble, help him.

- If we don't learn from our mistakes,

we're destined to repeat 'em.

That's what he's tryin' to tell us,

we've got to keep workin' together.

- A good takeaway is to just maintain our humanity

and help each other, not to tear each other apart.

- It should remind all of us that we should treat each other

with a bit of kindness and understanding,

because even today, we have people that travel to America,

looking for a better place, and a lot of times,

they're ostracized and push comes to shove,

they helped build this country too.

- Some of the people that are comin' in,

yeah they're probably bad,

but there's probably more people that aren't

and I've known people from Afghanistan

that were good people.

- I've seen a lot of stuff

and I'm not seeing anything quite as bad

as what I'm seeing now.

Seems like everyone's pushing

and shoving each other, trying to get the bigger part.

Back in those days, there was no bigger part.

You worked and helped your neighbor,

your neighbor worked and helped you.

If you survived, they survived.

That's basically what we do now.

We have to work together or none of us will survive.

- I think we all should get along in this world.

We all have one place to live on this planet and that's it.

Why do we have to fight over it all the time?

It can be shared.

There's nothin' that can't be shared

and everybody, if they got along,

it'd be a lot better world.

I mean, it just isn't, right now.

Probably more or less because our leaders can't get along.

If they would sit down and talk to each other,

and actually not look at each other as enemies,

and just sit down and have a conversation,

world might be a better place.

Like I said, they don't.

They don't care what we think about it,

they just do it on their own,

and we have to suffer through it.

Maybe someday it'll change.

If it does, it'd be a better place.

I doubt I'll be alive to see it,

but I know that it could be a lot better place.

- Let's do this!

- Last day.

- Getting from Oklahoma to California,

getting from Sallisaw to Bakersfield,

that's the objective, but it's certainly not a failure

if it doesn't play out that way.

- It's already a success to me.

If we get one week in and all the wheels fall off,

I'm still gonna have a great time,

still gonna learn more about the country,

more about the book, have great experiences with friends,

it's already a success, no matter what happens,

but I suppose inevitably, I really wanna get to the end.

There may be a point where we realize

we're not gonna make it, but I wanna make it.

- All around, I'd say 90%

of people are just good, honest people.

- They called us Okies, but we survived.

The first five years bein' the worst,

talk about a fight for survival, we had it.

Okies or not the Dust Bowl people kept coming.

We were not bad, we were not ignorant or stupid,

we were just hardworking people who had lost all they

had and were trying to put their lives back together.

- Welcome back.

After 31 days of riding, the Bikes of Wrath,

a group of five John Steinbeck devotees from Australia,

have finished their journey, here in Bakersfield.

- Their quest was to follow the footsteps

of Steinbeck's novel, The Grapes of Wrath,

starting from Sallisaw, Oklahoma

to Weedpatch Camp in Kern County.

17's, Anne Di Grazia joins us live

from Weedpatch Camp with their unusual story, Anne.

- Tammy, the Dust Bowl drove a wave of midwesterners

to California about 80 years ago.

These five men wanted to re-create that journey,

and the many hardships so many Americans faced.

These five Aussies call themselves the Bikes of Wrath,

and they have just finished an arduous journey

through storms and desert, like true Okies.

- Hello!

- Hi. You're early - How you doing?

- How you going?

- Traffic was good.

- Come on in.

- I'm Ollie.

- Ollie? I'm Suzeanne.

- Cameron.

- Hi Cameron, it's nice to meet you.

I was just re-reading this

cause I hadn't read it in quite a while.

My feeling was, as I saw your story last night,

I kind of was, my husband was watching the news,

and I understand that you're going through

the Grapes of Wrath, from the book,

but this is a first hand primary resource.

- Yeah, we've heard versions from people

but yours is an actual 18-page account.

- Yes, so my aunt, my oldest aunt, who,

this is the letter from, her name is Wilma Wood.

She's now passed away.

She was 11 years old, and my mother was a year old,

and so, this was her explanation, what it took

to get from Oklahoma to California on, I think $30.

They were treated like scum of the Earth

and that held on their whole life.

I can't believe she did this!

So there's heart in there, and there's truth,

and oh man, I don't know.

- Has any of it stood out to you

that you would read out at all?

Love to hear just a little bit.

- I've always felt that God had a special place in his

heart for the people of the Dust Bowl.

He alone knows their struggles, their tears,

their heartaches, they were a rare breed of people.

My sisters and I grew up, we all married, and had children,

they are all lovely and young people.

Daddy and Mother did well, as did Jo.

The years past, we lost Daddy and Ma,

and one precious nephew,

which was my brother.

He was killed when he was 16.

But this is the way life goes.

This is the way it was.

This is my story, my little sister's story,

Daddy and Mother's story and Ma's story.

It is the truth.

Nothing here has been taken from a book.

This is the way we lived it, by Wilma Wood.

So it's just really special.

- Thank you.

- You may use that and I'll be praying

for the rest of your guys' journey

and can't wait to see what happens.

- And the interesting thing for me, is that,

that I actually met them.

- My name is Charlie Turnbull.

I'm 24 years old, I grew up on my farm,

just outside of Canberra and now I study,

kinda part time in Sydney,

and try and do a whole lot of travel.

- And the interesting thing about a story like that is,

because these guys are so bright-eyed, and so happy,

and so filled with energy and vitality

and just love of what they're doing,

as far as the universe goes,

I don't wanna get all out there,

but as far as the whole thing goes,

they did their job for me!

- My name is Oliver Chiswell and I come

from a small town called Collector,

just outside of Canberra.

I grew up on a egg farm out in the country

and pretty much lived in the country ever since then.

- These guys were so incredibly positive

and filled with such love and awareness of who they are,

and I don't think that most people would even think of

what they've done for humanity.

- My name's Cameron Ford.

I'm a filmmaker, I'm a musician,

on the strip I turned 35,

two days before we set off on the bikes.

- And people say, "Oh, well, what did they do?

"They got on a plane, flew over here and got on some

bikes and rode around."

But that's the kind of thing that people do not

understand. It can be something that's almost magical.

I don't know how this is gonna affect them,

it's gonna affect them in a very good way, I'm sure.

- My name is Redouane Chaouki, people call me Red.

I'm 33. I live in Australia.

I'm from Casablanca, Morocco and I'm French.

So, I have three passports.

- But they may have not been doing that for themselves,

they may have been doing that for someone else.

They may have been doing that for the person

that was feeling that they had a goal that was too far.

- My name's Leon Morton.

I'm a firefighter, 30 years old.

I've not been in the firebregade

for very long, I'm still learning.

Every day you go home a better person.

- It is impossible to tell the amount of goodness

that those five guys on that trip have done for humanity.

It's just impossible to tell.

They did a lot for me.

So, I'm doing a video about them.

I'm Hello Rodney. Thanks so very much.

Thanks very much,

Bikes of Wrath.