One More Roma Story

I was hitchhiking through Europe in 1973. I had just taken the boat from Corfu to Brindizi and had arranged to meet two young women in Pescara. It was only a spot on the map, a little north or Brindizi. Once off the boat I had no trouble getting a ride just outside of town, but then proceeded to wait for hours in the hot sun for another ride. I heard some music at what looked like a small pub, maybe a quarter mile away. I entered a covered porch and 30 or 40 men were there and welcomed me in to eat watermelon. I spoke not a word of Italian at the time, but they were friendly and welcoming and I was grateful for the break.

I set out on the road again. After a ride of about one kilometer I was on a deserted stretch of road surrounded by farmland. I stood in the heat with hardly a car passing. Then an Italian military man came walking up the road, put his thumb out and was immediately given a ride. I waited another hour or more and I saw a train of about twenty cars approaching. They were beat up- full of dents and scratches and moving slowly. I put my thumb out.

About the sixth car in the caravan stopped. Then almost immediately the ones both in front of him and in back of him stopped too. A man of about 30 years was the driver and he was with his son, a boy of maybe 3 years. I got in the back and he wanted some money as he started off. He spoke neither Italian nor English. We drove for maybe four minutes and the caravan pulled over to the side of the road again. I was the center of interest for the entire caravan. All of the people crowded over to the car where I sat asking the driver who I was. They all wanted to get a look at me.

We somehow communicated and I found that they came from Yugoslavia. They were traveling looking for work. We drove slowly then one of the cars gave a signal to stop. All the cars pulled to the side of the road. It was an automobile grave yard. Everyone got out of their cars. A few more came over to see me. Most of the women and children stood in groups. The men fanned out over the large field of junked cars.
They were equipped with wrenches and screwdrivers and soon they had pulled a couple of parts from some of the cars. A group of about four went over to one and proceeded to tinker with the malfunctioning automobile.

Someone gave and imperceptible signal and everyone got back into their cars. We started off again at the same slow pace until about five minutes later another signal was given. It was a gas station. Two of the cars got gas, but mobs again exited the cars and gathered around a little soda machine. It was back in the cars and off we go again. Less than ten minutes later the cars pulled over again and of course some of the children had to take a pee.

We traveled for ten more minutes and the caravan again pulled over the the side of the road in sync. This time it appeared that they were looking for a place to camp for the night. I took this opportunity to exit the car and walk away from the caravan. The sun was beginning to set and the field around me had all been purposely burned by the local farmer. We were just outside the city of Bari.

I walked up the road and thought myself that it might be a good time to find a place to spend the night. I didn't want to enter the town for I knew that it would delay my journey that much more. I walked along the side of the road for about 15 minutes with not one car passing me. Then I saw in the distance the line of cars that I had left behind on the road again. I was determined not to let them see me for I did not want to be picked up again. I hid behind some large rocks. They passed. Then in fifteen I once again saw the cars parked in a line and people setting up their cloth tents. As I walked past they did not notice me.

By this time it was getting dark. I saw a deserted gas station at the top of a hill and in that gas station parking lot was an abandoned seatless car. I decided to spend the night in the back seat of the automobile. I could hear the sound of a crowd and a party. The band played "My Girl". Sometime in the middle of the night a car pulled next to the car where I was sleeping. I could hear a young man and young woman talk in Italian, giggle, then it was silent. After about fifteen minutes they drove away and I fell asleep.