I technically don't have a gal in Kalamazoo but I went there this week and it's the only song I know that has the word 'Kalamazoo' in it. I might not have a gal (or guy as my case may be) in Kalamazoo but I did meet some lovely people and am now able to cross it off my list of places to visit.
On Monday, I went to Kalamazoo so I could attend the Kalamazoo Central High School graduation with POTUS. KCHS won a contest called "Race to the Top" to have POTUS speak at the best high school in the country (as narrowed down by the Dept. of Ed. and voted on by citizens). So I got to go along with him. Actually not with him. I had to fly commercially. That's right. No charter. With the common folk! :) We flew out on Monday a few hours before POTUS left DC and since the graduation was late at night, there was no way home from Kalamazoo so we spent the night. If you've read my blog for any time, you've heard about the chartered planes we usually fly. Well, in a cost-saving measure, we aren't chartering planes as often. And boy do I miss it!! We had to RACE across O'Hare from one gate to a gate that I believe was still in the same airport but I'm not sure. We literally ran for 20 minutes and finally ran onto the plane about 5 minutes before it took off. Of course our luggage and gear didn't make it. So when we landed in the Kalamazoo/Battle Creek International Airport (which has only two gates by the way), it was just me, my camera guy, and the camera. Nothing else. So we drove around Kalamazoo and got the lay of the land, had a nice lunch, etc. before returning to the airport after it arrived. We pretty much saw all of the town. And no offense to any of you who are from Kalamazoo but I can cross this city off my list of places to return. It's a nice town but I got my full taste of it!!
Sixteen years ago, almost to the day, I graduated from Cave Spring High School and I have been to several high school graduations since but I've decided they are more fun if you are actually the one graduating or you know one of the graduates. The KCHS commencement took place at Western Michigan University and of course the POTUS (it would have been Clinton at the time) didn't speak at my high school but this was an enormous venue! Like 5000+ people in one gym. And these kids didn't sit in alphabetical order so you couldn't follow along to have any clue how close we were for it to be done with. POTUS did give a good speech and the valedictorian and salutatorian inspired their classmates. In fact, the salutatorian announced his bid for POTUS in 2048 and he was a good speaker and may have a chance!
All in all, it was a rather uneventful trip although it did make me miss the charter!! My favorite moment of this commercial-flying thing was on the plane from Kalamazoo to Chicago. It was a fairly full flight and I was sitting towards the back of the plane. Before we took off, the flight attendant (who probably doubled as the co-pilot) came back and asked me to move up to the front of the plane to balance the weight better. Seriously? I was probably one of the smallest people on the plane and my weight was going to be the difference between us taking off or not?? Oh man! Bring back the charter!! :)
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