Mr Eklund

First message - Sent September 6, 2025

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Hi Everyone,

Thank you so much for signing up to join me on this amazing adventure.  I will be emailing you from time to time throughout the year with updates, planning advice, tips and other items related to our trip. Please make sure you read each email.   

Last year we had a huge problem with SPAM filters so please do the following.  One, add my contact information to your address book  (Michael Eklund  mreklund@gmx.com) and  Two, press REPLY and send me a short message.  Doing these two things will tell me I have your information entered correctly plus help train your computer to NOT reject my messages or send them to the SPAM filter.

If for any reason you do not want to receive communications at this email address or would like to add or change to another address, please do not click unsubscribe.  Instead, please send me a message and I will be happy to make any necessary changes.  Thanks.

Sometimes I will be requesting information. I will greatly appreciate it if you can respond to my requests right away.  Since I am no longer in my classroom or even on campus most of the time,  it will be a lot harder for me to follow up so, please get back to me right away if I am requesting something from you.  Thank you.  

By the way, Mr Radke will be helping me out on campus again this year.  Should you have any questions or needs while on campus you can always check with him in room 19.  Thanks Mr Radke!

As you may be aware, our trip is currently booked full.  We are trying to add an additional bus but we need to have just a few more people signed up to do so. Please encourage your friends to join us.  They will be put on a waitlist but if we can add another bus we should be able to take everyone who signs up. There is a sign up link and you can see the list of who is signed up on my website at  https://meklund1.wixsite.com/kjhs  

Be sure to bookmark my website.  https://meklund1.wixsite.com/kjhs  This is where I will post important information such as roommate assignments, chaperone groups, flight times, etc. Knowing where to find it quickly could be very helpful for you.

In most of my messages I will include a fun fact about something related to our trip at the bottom of the message.  I hope you find them interesting. 

One last thing, I will be out of town with very limited internet access from Tuesday Sept. 9th until Sunday Sept. 16th.  I will respond to emails as quickly as internet accessibility allows

Thanks so much. 

Mr Eklund
mreklund@gmx.com

Fun Fact: The Smithsonian Institute has approximately 156 million artworks, artifacts and specimens, of which only about 2 percent, or approximately 3 million, are on display at any one time.  There are 17 Smithsonian Museums in Washington DC. We will visit some of them on our trip but I cannot tell you exactly what we will see since they rotate what is on display all the time. For example, they used to have an original Dumbo from the ride at Disneyland that was our "go to" meeting spot in the American History Museum but it is no longer there. I do not know if it is on display somewhere else in the museum so if you do find it, please let me know.  We shall have to pick a new meeting spot when we visit that museum this summer. 

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Second Message  - Sent October 20, 2025

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Hi Everyone,

Thank you to everyone who signed up when we were full in the hopes that we would have a spot for you because I have great news...your seat on the trip has been confirmed!  Thank you for waiting so patiently.  Not only do we have a spot for you but we now have plenty of room for others so if you know of anyone else who would like to join us, tell them to sign up!

Mail Chimp List - Thank you to everyone who emailed me back when you received my last message sent via Mail Chimp.  It seems to be making a difference with the SPAM filters.  I would urge you to respond to this message as well just to be on the safe side.  

Emails - There were a number of travelers who never turned in the email form so I had to create this email distribution list from a variety of sources.  If you would like to add a different email to this distribution list there is now a sign up link on my web site. Just click on the 2026 DC Trip tab and scroll down to the mailchimp logo.  If you would like me to remove an address from the distribution list, please send me an email and I will take care of that immediately.  Please do not click on Unsubscribe.  I had no idea how much mailchimp doesn't like this and since they provide this service for free, I would like to stay on their good side.  Thanks.

More on Emails - The eighth grade is a pretty pivotal year in a student's growth to becoming a responsible young adult. When I asked for email addresses, I intentionally asked for both the parent and student addresses. This way I could contact the student traveler directly while making sure that parents stay informed as well.  For a number of students I only got the parent email in response.  Here's the thing.  High school is just around the corner and your student needs to be ready.  The easiest way to do that is through little things like learning to check your email everyday. I will be sending the exact same email to both adults and students so you can give your child the chance they need to develop a little responsibility and independence while you still have their back for anything they might have missed. If they didn't send me their address already, please have your student sign up for my emails directly on my website before the next message.

The next message will be coming your way on October 4th. Now that we have the making of the email list out of the way, we will be moving on to other topics. Be sure to read all future messages because each one will be filled with things you will need to know regarding our trip.  Hopefully, you will find them entertaining as well. Thanks.

That's it for today. Have a great weekend.
Mr Eklund
email -   mreklund@gmx.com
website - meklund1.wixsite.com/kjhs

Fun Fact:
George Washington had some pretty crazy quirks.  Did you know he loved to gamble?  He would bet on anything.  He also loved to dance.  The ladies would line up at all public events just waiting for the chance to dance with him?  He and Martha owned a large number of slaves.  In his will, he set the slaves free, not upon his death but upon Martha's death.  Martha began to worry that some of the slaves might decide to hurry her death along so she set most of them free long before she passed away. 

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Third Message   Sent October 4, 2025

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Hi Everyone,

There is a lot of prep work behind the scenes to get ready for this adventure. Right now we are busy selecting hotels as well as chaperones, a bus driver and a tour guide for our third bus. I will not be requesting any info from you for a while but when I do it would help me immensely if you could return the requested information as quickly and accurately as possible. Thanks in advance for your help.   In the mean time, here are a few items you need to know about the trip.

Cell Phones - I get a lot of questions about cell phones.  Yes, I want you to take your cell phone with you on the trip!  We do ask that you be respectful and put them away when the tour guides are talking on the bus. There are also places where you will not be allowed to take them inside with you. We will let you know where this is the case. Please follow the instructions if we tell you to leave them on the bus. Security in DC does not mess around. If they take your phone away you most likely will never get it back. You have been warned.

Speaking of phones as well as cameras - It is against the law to take flash photographs on the bus in DC.  No, I am not kidding. I will repeat it. It is against the law to take a flash photo inside a bus in Washington DC.  Don't do it! Ever.  If it is seen and the DC police pull us over, you will lose your phone, our bus driver will be fined (not to mention be furious with you and it is never good to have the bus driver mad at us), and you or your parents will end up having to pay the fine (which is around $500).  NO FLASH PHOTOS ON THE BUS!

Shoes -     Please plan on wearing a good walking shoe or tennis shoes on the trip.  No sandals,  No open toed shoes.  And, definitely No Crocs! (I am not kidding...if you show up with Crocs you WILL be sent home!) My advice, pick out a pair of shoes early enough that they are broken in and comfortable before our trip.  Nothing's worse than getting massive blisters on the first day of the trip then hobbling around with sore feet for the rest of the week. 

I will be on campus all day on Monday, October 13th if you have any questions or just want to chat about the trip.  Most likely you will be able to find me in Mr Radke's room at lunchtime.

By the way, there is a meeting in the gym on Tuesday evening October 14th. Don't panic.  You do NOT need to attend. This is for seventh graders to find out about the 2027 DC Trip.  Have a great weekend. Mr Eklund.

FUN FACT:
During World War II, U.S. heavy bomber pilots made ice cream by strapping buckets of ice cream mix to their planes before missions. The cold temperatures and turbulence during flight would churn and freeze the mix, turning it into ice cream by the time they returned.

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Fourth message

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https://mailchi.mp/a4e731b79c17/2026-dc-trip-update-for-october-18-2025