The Golden Ticket

Kellene has called me The Golden Ticket for years because I get to go to the front of the line and through secret tunnels. In the last 13 years, I’ve been able to get unintended preferential treatment. The thing is, even with ADA requirements, there are few places that can adequately accommodate wheelchairs.

I’ve been able to do all the rides at Disneyland in less than a day and still have time for dinner and drinks. I’ve seen the back rooms of Versailles, France because Louis IVX didn’t have elevators when he built the castle. And it’s not only the inability to accommodate; sometimes I get freebies. I park for free at meters. I’ve seen Broadway plays for $7 ($14 with a guest) because of a corporate grant to provide culture to the disabled. Anyway, you get the point… it’s another great benefit that this titanium throne allows me.

We wanted to go to see Kenny Chesney, Sugarland, Lady Antebellum and Miranda Lambert at Rio Tinto Stadium. I couldn’t find wheelchair-accessible tickets online or at the box office, so I ended up buying three tickets on the field over the Internet. They were fairly good seats but at the back of the soccer field. I was hoping that I could sit in an aisle seat and Kellene could stash my chair in the car.

Now, the problem is that I can’t just sit in a chair. I have to be held in a chair or I have to hold on to the sides of the chair so I don’t fall out. It usually only works for a few minutes before I my knuckles get tired of hanging on. I thought better of the purchase so I did the runaround with the Rio Tinto office until I found the right person that sold handicapped seats. Well, apparently they don’t allow wheelchairs on the field. However, they do have an ADA section where they stash all the disabled. It sounded weird, but what the hell. I traded the tickets and at the last minute bought two extra.

The seats ended up being pretty great. So, Kellene, Brenda, Kristin, Mia and I went to watch cowboy hats and Kenny.

Sugarland cancelled, the heat about killed me, but we watched Lady and Miranda and had a great time. During intermission, Mia and I rode the freight elevator with Lady Antebellum. She rude, the guys were nice. We exited the elevator and the police had us wait because Kenny was just ahead of us and we and his band were about to go on stage. We waited, watched as the band headed through the tunnel. Kenny turned and walked the other way, RIGHT TO US. He didn’t stop to visit, but Mia and I got a smile.

That sounds like we are groupies. We aren’t, but we can appreciate a cute, shaved guy in a hat that can sing and is built. We returned to our ADA cage and bragged about being within fingers touch of him.

A few songs into the concert, a couple guys walked up to Kristin and Brenda and handed them wristbands to the sandbar. “Are you kidding?”

“No kidding.”

We headed down to the field and found our way to the sandbar. (The standing-room only sections that flank the stage and runways.) Another Golden Ticket moment, but this time it was Kristin’s “striking” blue eyes that got us in. Or it could have possibly been the lovely blouses that she and Brenda were wearing.

AND THE FUN BEGINS…

The concert was great! Rock and Roll, Country and good ole Kenny Sun City songs.

Sooo, the sandbar wasn’t totally full, but there was a good group a people crowding the stage. Golden Ticket moment. I was there for the girls. There wasn’t any possible way I could see the stage that was five feet off the ground. People noticed and had me inch my way in front of them. Then others, and others until I was at the end of the runway, but pretty much staring at the black wall. We danced, sang and people kept checking to see if I could see. “Yep.” I could see him on the big screens above the stage. It was great.

But the big cowboys standing around me really, really wanted me to have a good time. They asked the security guard if he could help get me on the runway. Thank God he said no. THANKS, but eeeew, way too public for me.

A couple songs later, they asked me if they could lift me and my wheelchair up in the air so I could see as Kenny strutted down the stage. So up I went with a couple hatted cowboys and Kellene holding me above the stage and everyone else’s heads. I did the screaming-waving-stupid groupie thing and asked to get let down.

It was awesome!

That wasn’t quite good enough for the boot boys. They REALLY wanted me to have a good time. So on the closing set, Kenny skipped his way down the runway signing hats, shirts, and whatever people shoved into his hands. UP I WENT… and on the way I asked cowboy’s girlfriend if she wanted her hat signed. I ended up with wheels on the runway, AND HERE’S THE REST…

(You'll need to turn your monitor.)

Now, THAT'S the Golden Ticket.