New Jersey Stage April 2015 | Page 34

Ballo and his friend hitchhiked from Sayreville to Huntington Beach, California a few days after graduation. They stayed there for about a month until they ran out of money and decided to return home, reaching Yuma, Arizona at the end of their first day thumbing rides. “At the end of the night, we went to sleep in our sleeping bags in the desert,” recalled Ballo. “We wake up in the morning and start hitchhiking again. A guy pulls over and, just as we did for every car, we walked up to the car, stuck our head in there to see what was going on. The guy had his window rolled down and he asked us if we had any money. We said that we didn’t, that we were broke, and I could tell that he was broke. He thought for a second and then said “come on in.” Once Ballo gets in the car, he notices that there’s no key in the ignition — only wires hanging out. This gave them a funny feeling, but being experienced hitchhikers, they knew how to roll with it. “The first thing is a ride is a ride,” explained Ballo. “We’d taken shady rides before and its part of the game. You just take rides Suzanne’s Pet Sitting Going on tour? Crazy schedule? Suzanne can take care of your pets while you’re away. Low rates, available on short notice, references, experienced with many species of animal. (908) 692-2257 New Jersey Stage Article Index Next Article Events 34