The Great Indiana Roadtrip Continued: Hello Mr. Manning!

Alright, here we are at the second full day of the Great Indiana Roadtrip of 2009. The previous day had been a great success with our wine tour, exploration of the city, and Halloween night. This day, our 'plans' were contingent on one fact and one fact alone.

The Colts were in town.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. Let's start the day off right, with a complete breakfast of...

chocolate filled, sugar covered pastry. So good and so good for you!*

Or perhaps a bagel nosh with a little shmear of cream cheese?
*good for the soul. The body, not so much.

Au Bon Pain...if you're wrong, I don't want to be right.

Ok, back to the main theme, the Colts. Yes, the Colts were in town and playing the 49ers. Now, Jenny and I love football...college football.

 Roll Tide! 

 I wasn't even at this game, I just snagged the pic from Jenny.

We follow the SEC teams, and keep our eyes on the other (lesser) conferences as well. However, neither of us really pays much attention to the NFL. Still, we knew if we could afford tickets, getting to see the Colts play at home would be a good time.

...And here's where the whole thing turns tragically hilarious.

I was supposed to have a hundred dollars in my bag. Notice that supposed to have. Late, late, Halloween night, after our costumed shenanigans, I went to get something out of my purse and noticed Mr. Franklin's inauspicious absence. Suffice to say I had a minor freakout and Jenny and I subsequently tore the room apart trying to find the cash. We found nothing.

Nothing.

I was convinced that it was lying on the floor of some club in Broad Ripple, lining the pocket of some fake pirate's waistcoat, or snugly tucked into the cleavage of a 'sexy' nurse.

The thing is, it wasn't even money I planned to spend on this trip. It was reserved for something else and I'd simply forgotten to take it out of my bag before we'd left.

Completely disheartened and hesitant to drop my remaining cash on something like game tickets now that my reserve was gone, I didn't know what to do. Jenny however, had an idea.

"Liz, we'll make some signs and go down to the stadium to beg for tickets!"

It seemed like a good idea, and far be it from me to be above harassing total strangers for my own entertainment needs. So, we grabbed a couple of sheets of paper; I took out my handy Sharpie and we set to work. Our signs were done and we were ready to hit the steps of the stadium.

On the way, we stopped by the car to load our suitcases and grab a couple of things we needed...

...and there was my hundred bucks, neatly folded and slipped into the door pocket between a couple of pamphlets. My mind was officially blown. I have no way to explain this other than God, because I know I didn't put it there, and in my bag, it had been inside a pouch, inside  a zippered compartment, which I never opened in the car.

So, the cash was back! Amen! However, we decided to stick with our begging plan...because that's how we roll.

Had never watched a Colts game a day in their lives.^

Notice the headband and hair bows, we picked those up at the mall because we owned NOTHING Colts related to wear. We wanted to look slightly more like the 'HUGE COLTS FANS!" my sign claimed we were.

So we begged. We pleaded. We even sang along with a bucket drum line. We were laughed at, made fun of, wished the best of luck...and then, we were made an offer:

"I have some tickets you can have, but you've got to do something weird for them."

We decided to hear him out before we started shouting for a policeman. (I need an adult!)

Coolest guy ever.

As it turns out, it wasn't weird at all...not even slightly creepy! All he wanted us to do was use his $220 tickets to get into the game and then trade them with his friends who had $119 tickets. THAT'S IT. So, instead of sitting on the 50 on row 4, we were on the 20 on row 10.

For free.

We settled into our seats, grab some drinks, some eats, got our cameras out, and cracked open our programs to see who other than Peyton Manning was playing.

Suffice to say, we were just a little excited...

OK, a lot excited.

I think we know what got the job done. 

So without further ado, here come the COLTS! 

Coin toss (I did not realize Peyton Manning was so tall!)

 

Well, there you have it. A few shots from the game and a few of us being our stupid selves. The atmosphere was very different than a college game, but still a lot of fun and of course, the Colts won. As is well known, they ended up at the Superbowl this past season. They may have lost to the Saints, but they're still #1 to me. 

GO COLTS!

After the game, we headed back to the car, jumped in, and hit the road for home. It was five o' clock on the nose...exactly the time we'd hoped to be rolling. We couldn't have done better if we'd planned it...and we all know how much planning went into this trip.