Grad Weekend Epic's

For Travis's graduation we had two adventures occurring simultaneously. One, was a weekend of cycling that he had planned, and the second was the bbq/party the day of the ceremony.

Travis went on a bike ride Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. On his ride on Friday he was joined by his dad (Bob), his uncle (Greg), Cullen, Tim, Bob, and Gary. The seven of them set off at a screaming pace where the covered their first three miles in forty five minutes. Tim got a flat in the first mile and it took twenty minutes to fix it. Then, Gary ran into the entrance barrier of the bike path. Luckily the 3 foot tall post didn't damage Gary or his bike. After the group finally got rocking and rolling they covered 70 miles and climbed over 4000 feet.

Saturday was the day of fun. Travis's ceremony went from 9 am until 11:30am. Right after the ceremony he set out on his bike again. This time he was accompanied by his dad, Cullen, Tim, and Richard. The did a shorter ride but still a solid ride of two hours, 30 miles, and over 2000 feet of climbing. Directly upon their return the BBQ/Party was under way. Everyone who was anyone was at the party. There was even a piñata at the party.

 (Video Credit: Nina Caldwell) 

Sorry about your 5 iron Dan!

After a long day and night of fun Travis was up early at 5 am to cook breakfast before his third and final bike ride of the weekend. The Sunday ride was probably the most difficult of the weekend. The group consisted of his dad, his uncle, Cullen, Tim, and Caleb. The ride was a 55 mile ride where the group climbed almost 5000 feet.

All-in-all the graduation weekend was as epic as you would come to expect from Team Kettle. Now there is only one member of Team Kettle left to graduate and we will be looking forward to next year when we can celebrate her graduation.

Graduation '08

A post by Travis:

Graduating has stirred a long time love-hate relationship within me. I have wanted to graduate for quite some time. Of course, that is to be expected when it took me six years to complete my degree. However, I cannot say that I was excited about the ceremony of graduation. Graduation ceremonies have seemed like a pointless tradition that was outdated, overrated, and awkward. 

As I stood in alphabetical order within my major before we were escorted into the football stadium awkward was the best way to describe how I felt. Hot might be a better adjective, but that was more due to the black robes. But once I was sitting out in the field with the rest of my graduating class I felt more pride then I had expected to. As the guest and student speakers gave their spiels I couldn't help but feel proud for myself and all the other graduates that day.

As much as I had been dreading going through the ceremony I ended up enjoying it that much more. Now, don't get me wrong, the ceremony was long, hot, and I wanted to be somewhere else. However, I could not be happier that I sat through the speeches and then walked across the stage to receive the piece of paper that says "this is not your diploma."