Summary

Chapter 17. The migrants all travel west. They camp, and one family joins another and another and another; soon, there are dozens of them, together. And they create a world with law and order. They respect one another and share each other's troubles. They talk of times gone and times to come. When day comes, they travel West again.

Chapter 18. The Joads cross through Arizona and over into California at the edge of the desert. They rest at the Colorado River. A father and son returning to the Panhandle warn them there is no land to have in California, jobs are not to be found. The Joads go on anyway. Noah, Tom's oldest brother, decides to stay along the river; he tells Tom their parents try to be kind to him, but cannot really care because he is odd. He wanders off while the family sleeps...