My late father grew up in Southwestern Oklahoma during this time.  The sand storms he talked of were devastating.  Having enough food for their family was real concern for his parents.  Dad spoke of taking bacon grease sandwiches to school.....bacon grease, not bacon.  There were no crops in that area, so the family would travel to East Texas to help on an uncle's truck farm and pick cotton wherever they could.  Many neighbors had loaded up and migrated to California.  In 1934, my grandfather hopped a freight in Oklahoma and rode to California to look for work, leaving my grandmother home with 4 children.  Her oldest was 14 at the time, and had dropped out of school to work and help her mother.  My grandfather worked as a carpenter in California, and sent his wages home for the family.  I'm not sure how long he was out west, but things had improved somewhat in Oklahoma by the time he came home, and he was able to work day labor on farms and get various jobs carpentering.

The Beckham County courthouse in Sayre OK is the one seen behind the Joad family in 'The Grapes of Wrath' as they begin their journey to California.