It all started for me in August of 2018. Rooster's Wings Restaurants had an online contest giving away a pair of tickets each regular season game to whatever bowl game "The Ohio State Buckeyes" played in. I tried to win but nothing doing. Fast forward to 2019 and I again was trying to win the "Rooster's Buckeye Bowl Game Giveaway." On October 13th I read an email at 4:45 am informing me I was the week number 6 winner. Of course, I thought it was spam, until I saw Nicole's phone number and home address at the bottom of the email. Nicole is the marketing director for Rooster's and after talking to her on the phone, I knew it was the real deal. We are talking an all-expense paid trip to a bowl game courtesy of Rooster's. We made plans to meet at the Polaris Rooster's in Columbus, Ohio, on Columbus Day, to sign the legal paperwork. After filling out the federal 1099 form and other legal stuff, Nicole bought our lunch, gave us a $25.00 gift card and took our picture for their Facebook page. She then told us "it will seem like forever before you hear from us again." She was right. I watched every game more intensely trying to determine and speculate on which state we could go to. Rose Bowl in California, Fiesta in Arizona or Peach in Georgia. The answer came on December 8th. We were going to Arizona and the Fiesta Bowl.
Christmas day our bags got packed and plans of leaving our three Yorkies with our daughter Nissa became finalized. On 12-26 we woke the Stump family up at 6:30 am, dropped off the dogs and headed south for Rickenbacker International Airport. We had never flown out of Rickenbacker, but it is a nice, small airport and very easy to get around in. Nicole greeted us at the door with hugs and sent us off to see Terra, the lady in the green hat with the ball on top, who is Rooster's Operations Manager. We also met Jaclynne, Rooster's Donation Coordinator, the third member of our hosts. The 10:00 am flight on Allegiant Airlines didn't lift off until 10:45 but the 30 Rooster folks on board didn't care because we were going to the Fiesta Bowl. The plane was chartered by Travel Partners Specialty Tour Guides out of Dublin, Ohio and all 186 seats were filled with Buckeye Fans going to the southwestern United States. The four-hour flight seemed to last forever but soon we were descending into the Phoenix airport. We didn't pull up to a terminal, no we just stopped on the concrete. Stairs were rolled up and everyone disembarked the plane right on to tour buses headed to the hotel. We didn't even have to find or load our luggage because we were royalty, or so we felt as the luggage was loaded for us.
At the hotel in Scottsdale, we got our bags as we exited the bus then walked into the lobby, got a room key, a cookie, then found our room and settled in. The room was spacious with a king bed and that southwest decorative style. We were supposed to meet everyone in the Cantina for happy hour at four but with the 2-hour time difference Alice and I were hungry. So, after a little exploring of the open-air style hotel we went in for a drink and some appetizers. It was only 3:15 pm but felt like 5:15 to us. Around four in walks Nicole, Terra and Jaclynne. Our hosts came by, said hi and told us we were moving happy hour to the outside courtyard. I got the waitresses attention to pay the bill, but she said it was already taken care of. Wow, we are royalty. Happy hour had tables of food and drinks were provided. We also got to met Dan, the man as I called him, the President of Rooster's. He is a tall dark-haired man with a deep voice and pleasing personally. He handed me an envelope with our names on it and my smart ass says, "Is it a million dollars?" No, it wasn't, but it was a crisp $50.00 bill. After I pulled my dropped jaw back up into place, I asked what it was for and Dan replied, "incidentals." Lettermen Row was doing a Buckeye Podcast and us Rooster Winners were supposed to ask them questions, but I didn't understand that until after it was over. Near the end of their podcast all of us Rooster's wondered into the background of their podcast, waved and hollered OH...IO as Nicole held up the Rooster's sign. Afterwards Alice and I faded back to the room where we went to bed early, at least by Arizona time. There were 186 people on the airplane who all stayed in our hotel. We saw the same people everyday and it took us a while to learn who were Rooster's or just travel people. Over all we met everyone from Rooster's except two winners. There was Matt & Amanda, Bill & Jessica, Matt & Shannon, Susan & Luann, Lashawnda & Channie, Doug & Bob, Mike & Sons, Corrie & Mason, Ruger & Beth. We don't remember meeting Chris or Tanya week one and two winners.
I was up at 4:30 and being the hyper person I am, I found the fitness room and rode a bike until sweat poured off me. I knew I was going to put a lot of bad stuff into my body, so I had to get rid of some of what was already in there. I had the fitness room all to myself. After showers Alice and I headed to the breakfast area. A big buffet style breakfast was included every morning. Again, feeling like royalty, I just wanted to say, "feed me," like Audrey II from The Little Shop of Horrors. Alice and I sat with a guy whose face seemed familiar, so I asked if he was from Marion. He said he was from Zanesville and when I mentioned my nieces' name, he knew her very well as she is good friends with his son. It is a small world. After breakfast we just wondered around the hotel until noon when a bus was taking anyone that wanted to, down to the Bottled Blonde Bar for the OSU Bash. We met up with Matt that lives in Tennessee and his wife Amada. Matt used to live in Ohio but has been in Tennessee for a while. He won the tickets and then had to drive 5.5 hours to get to Columbus to get on the plane to fly to Arizona. What a dedicated Buckeye Fan. Susan and Luann were there and we six had beers while waiting for the festivities to start. The other Matt and Shannon were also around the bar. It was drizzling all morning and the street out front was closed for the bash, but no one wanted to stand in the rain. Susan and Luann found a great spot in The District bar across the street where we all joined them for a wonderful view of the OSU cheerleaders and Brutus Buckeye who were on the second-floor balcony of the Bottled Blond. The "Best Damn Band in the Land" started the show, and everyone just hooped and hollered the whole bash. It was just like a skull session back home. It was still drizzling but rain couldn't dampen the fun. After the show we six walked to the Cold Beers and Cheeseburger Restaurant for a nice juicy burger. After eating Susan and Luann headed out for shopping while Matt, Amanda, Alice and I bar hopped then found a Fry's grocery store where we bought beer to take back with us. The hotel shuttle would only go 2 miles north and 2 miles south. Luckily, we were only 1.9 miles away. It sure would have been a long walk back in the dark carrying our treasures. As it was still early, we sat in the hotel lobby sipping beer and talking to all the OSU fans that wondered past us. A couple members of our group saw Urban Myers who was supposedly staying in our hotel. In fact Channie, Lashawnda's daughter, may have even called security on Urban if it was his room that was so rowdy next to hers.
Saturday morning, I slept in as I must be acclimating to Arizona time. When I opened the curtains, I saw something strange in the sky. It was a bright yellow orb of some type which made the mountains in the distance look very bright. It was still colder in Arizona that it was in Ohio, but we didn't care, it was GAME DAY. We had the same breakfast as the day before and sat with 3 other Rooster couples. I just had to or maybe someone dared me, to go over and talk to the only two Clemson fans in the room. One guy was from South Carolina and the other was from Georgia and they both work for Nationwide Insurance. Their boss lives in Columbus and bought them tickets to the Fiesta Bowl, using the same travel partner as our trip. Except for the plane everything else was the same, the hotel and bus rides, but we were jealous of them because they had a car. As we were having breakfast the hotel lost power to all the rooms. The lobby had power but not the rooms, so Alice had to put on her makeup using a headlamp I brought. It was almost like camping at that point, but not.
We met some of our Rooster group at the Starbucks tables. We were trying to do a group photo at 1:30 but some met early and had pregame primer beers. We were getting goofy and having a great time. Matt and Shannon were up early to do some hiking. The hotel shuttle didn't pick them up to get back to the hotel, the second problem our group had with the shuttle. They had to get an Uber and were running behind for the game. At their room the lock didn't work and they couldn't get in. Security had to break into their room for them. They got changed and made it to our gray bus just in time as we Rooster's were on our way to the State Farm Stadium at 2:15. I had brought a soft sided cooler with me to carry beer and ice, but it leaked. There was water running down the bus aisle, so I got a trash bag from the driver and shoved my cooler in it. Next time no ice. The bus parking was like a 1/2 mile from the stadium and soon hordes of people were briskly walking towards that big dome. The activities outside State Farm Stadium were interesting. Lots of scarlet and gray and that other teams' colors too. The LSU game was on a large screen and their blow out game was boring, so Alice and I went inside, got some food and drinks and found our seats. Two big beers cost $23.00 and the food was $25.00 for a total of $48.00. Incidentals?? We had wonderful seats in the lower bowl at a corner of the end zone. The OSU Band was next to us and the cheerleaders were in front of us. Of course, the game was disappointing since we lost but hey, we were at a bowl game. The bus ride back to the hotel was very quiet and somber. We went right to bed after reaching the room knowing we had an early start in the morning.
Sunday morning was very cold and frosty. We were up at 5:30 for a 6:45 breakfast. We met other Rooster folks at the table as everyone was getting more open and knowing of each other. After breakfast I did see the two Clemson guys and did a slight bow with praying hands and they laughed and said it was a good game. I wanted a 2xl shirt from the vendor in the hotel but he was sold out of that size on Saturday. He said if he found one he would be back Sunday morning with it. He was there, had the shirt and EVERYHING was 50% off. We bought six shirts cheaper than three shirts from the day before. Bus boarding started at 8:30 for the hour ride back to the airport, where we sat on the bus waiting to check in then stood in line waiting to check in. But it was good because we got to talk to everyone more before we left. After getting through TSA we found the bar and Luann bought drinks for Susan, Matt, Amanda, Alice and I for one last toast. It was a good time. The flight home was only three hours with help from the jet stream. After landing we quickly found our luggage and headed to rescue Nissa from four days with our dogs then pulled into the driveway and home. The dogs were very happy to see us but not as happy as to see their home territory.
It was a wonderful trip, with wonderful people, sponsored by a wonderful company who gives a million dollars a year to charities. All I can really say and feel after this whole wide adventure we had is...
It sure is good to be us...Thank You Rooster's
Click here View All Pictures From the Fiesta Trip
Below are five Youtube videos to view from the Bash and game.
OSU Bash Part One
OSU Bash Part Two
OSU Bash Part Three
OSU taking Field
OSU Halftime Show