We have returned from our annual 4th of July road trip to Michigan to celebrate the holiday with Kyle’s family (plus birthdays – Happy 9th to my nephew, Happy 15th to my oldest babe, and Happy 90th to Uncle Dick!), and I’d like to take a moment to recognize Kyle as the continued uncontested champion and hero of the car packing. For the 8th year running, Kyle has packed, unpacked, repacked, unpacked, repacked, unpacked, repacked, and unpacked all of our travel accoutrements. On this particular trip, I did open the trunk and toss a wet bathing suit on top of…something? Maybe a person?…but Kyle ultimately moved that bathing suit into an empty Target bag (which he, and not I, brought for that very purpose) and so I defer any packing-related accolades related to that bathing suit to him.

The reason for all of the packing and unpacking is because the drive to Michigan takes roughly 15 hours and so we usually split the drive over a couple of days. This year, we stopped for a quick sleep and a hotel waffle bar in Tomah, Wisconsin on our way back home. We pulled into the parking lot long past bedtime with a veryveryvery tired and sunburned and miserable 11-year-old who was no longer buoyed by cousins and sugar. Normally, the 3rd row of seats in my car would be folded flat to make up the storage space of the trunk; however, Eleven had convinced his dad to pack our suitcases and bric-a-brac the long way in the car so that he could set up one of the 3rd row seats and sit behind his brother instead of beside him.

Kyle unpacked the items we’d need overnight while Fifteen and I extracted Eleven from the 3rd row – which took two people because Eleven had reached peak dramatics due to his condition.

“I can’t go on!” Eleven wailed into the night. “I cant lift my arms above my head” – he demonstrated by lifting his arms above his head – “because my sunburn hurts too much!”

“You don’t need to lift your arms above your head anymore today,” I said. “And you will feel much better in your pajamas.”

“I won’t! It hurts too much to move!’ Eleven exclaimed.

“You will also feel better after a rest,” I said.

“I won’t!”  Eleven whined.

“Get out of the car,” Fifteen said.

Eleven got out of the car.

“I won’t be able to sleep even a minute,” he told me.

“I think you will,” I said.

At the back of the car, Kyle had unloaded our suitcases, my extra bag with my toiletries, my other extra bag with other people’s toiletries, my bag with my computer, my bag carrying what I called “Hotel Food,” his own bag of chargers, and a pillow and a blanket for Eleven because both of our boys prefer to travel with their own bedding. He had also repacked an additional suitcase with dirty clothes, two wet beach towels, four dry beach towels, a drone, a helium-filled birthday balloon, and a 6-pack of New Glarus Beer, which can only be purchased in Wisconsin and therefore is ALWAYS purchased in Wisconsin. With Eleven safely and unhappily out of the car, I grabbed a suitcase, my purse, and the food bag and Fifteen grabbed a suitcase, his own pillow and blanket, and one of my other bags. Kyle, the human pack mule, picked up and carried everything else. Eleven carried himself, just barely.

We got into the hotel room and Eleven flopped onto the bed.

“I’d like you to take a really fast shower,” I told Eleven. “Because you swam in the pool today and you should rinse off the chlorine.”

“No, I can’t!” Eleven whimpered. 

“It will also make your sunburn feel better,” Kyle said, setting down one of the four or so bags he had around his shoulders.

“No, it won’t!” Eleven cried.

“Get in the shower,” Fifteen said.

Eleven got in the shower.

While he was drying off, I opened one of the suitcases to get out his pajamas.

“Uh oh,” I said. “This is the dirty clothes suitcase, not the clean clothes suitcase.”

“I will go swap it out,” Kyle said. He picked up the suitcase.

“If you want, I can do it,” I lied.

“Nope, I’m good,” he said.

He left the room. I gave Eleven his pajamas and picked up my cell phone and called Kyle.

“If you are still in the parking lot, can you also bring in three more items?” I asked, listing them off.

“I’m still in the parking lot, and yes,” Kyle said.

Eleven was asleep the actual second his head hit the pillow. The rest of us followed close behind.

In the morning, Kyle woke up early and filled the car with gas and bought coffee and doughnuts from Dunkin. As Fifteen and I got dressed, Kyle carried our travel gear out to the car in one, two, three trips. I was the last one ready, and Kyle picked up my toiletries bag and I picked up my purse and Fifteen picked up his blanket and Eleven – who was in a muchmuchmuch better mood – picked up himself and we loaded into the car and hit the road.

To sum it up, I would like to share a poem about Kyle in gratitude for his work.

Roses are red
And he does the packing
It is a skill
In which I am lacking

(PS, I also had Kyle write this poem.)

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The photo above was taken at Zingerman’s in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Kyle’s cousin Scott recommended Zingerman’s, and because Kyle’s cousin Scott is very cool we gave it a shot…and let me tell you, it was WORTH IT. It’s a Jewish deli, bakery, and coffee shop that is so wildly popular (food is amazing, staff are amazing) that occupies multiple buildings and every one of them was packed. We are standing in front of a little hut used for ordering because the crowds are so large everyone can’t fit inside to order. Even still, we only waited about 10 minutes and found a seat to eat right away. Highly recommend.

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I wasn’t on North Dakota Today this week because I was in Michigan. Last week, we talked about the McQuade Softball tournament, the NDDOC, and the USA Patriots, all my Nice People of the Week, as well as a free way to keep your kids rockin’ and rollin’ this summer. (Valley News Live)

Here’s the first bit of my recent column in the Grand Forks Herald; click here to read the full story:

“You should get your radon checked,” my mother said to me a dozen times over the past five years.

“I will,” I told her, tucking that advice between the “You should drink more water” and “You should change the batteries in your smoke detector when you change the clocks for Daylight Savings Time” parts of my brain. (Grand Forks Herald)

The first-ever International Indigenous Peace Powwow was held in Dunseith this week. (KFYR TV)

I’ve talked about Omea Sumneing and her corgis twice on North Dakota Today because they are all doing such great things. Their latest great thing is providing pet therapy services. (Grand Forks Herald)

In North Dakota-adjacent news, 7-year-old Isaac Richert is now a state recordholder. (Valley News Live)

Do you like true crime? Do you like reading? Do you like North Dakota? Try this. (Facebook)

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