Heritage Gateways

Osamu Sekiguchi Journals

June 1, 1997

Location: Scottsbluff - 541 miles left, Nebraska - Location: 41:52:00N 103:40:00W Elevation: 3880 feet

Summary: Sunday, June 1, 1997 (Sunny / Cloudy / Rain) Scottsbluff

Journal entry: [Translated by Tomoko Nakayama]

It was quite hot during the daytime. We attended the church meetings from 10:00 a.m.. but the one hour and a half meeting under the burning sun was extremly hard. We couldn't find any shade, so that made it harder. My wife asked me, "Please bring an umbrella."

When I brought the umbrella, she asked, "Please bring me a straw hat." I returned to the tent and brought a hat, then she begged, "Please bring water."

Because of the intense heat, I had lost the will power to argue, so I got her stuff. But I brought a camera by mistake. It was an extremly dangerous situation.

"Shall we send the children back to the tent instead?" Takako asked.

"But it's like a sauna in the tent," I cautioned.

"Well, then sit down in the shadow of the tent," Takako said with her head down.

"There is no shadow," I said. The sun is aomost right above us.

"Well, rest where you want to," she held her head and closed her eyes. I thought it was very good advice. When I tried to find the children after the meeting, they were enjoying the cool air in the wagon. It seemed like her advice was very good.

In the afternoon, a man named Oba who had been a doctor at Scottsbluff for nearly thirty years came to visit us with his wife. He is a second generation Japanese American and he had heard about us on TV and came here to see us. His wife's name is Mary. She was very elegant. They guided us the mountain (a hill) of Scottsbluff. From the summit we could see all the scenery around the area, and we could see the road we had traveled and the road we would travel tomorrow.

"If you don't mind, why don't we eat together?" he asked us. We eat hambergers everyday, and there was no reason to refuse this invitation. Two hours later, we were in Mr.Oba's house and were sitting down at the table as a family. It was my first dinner invitation since beginning the trail. Mary is an American (of course Mr.Oba is also American), but she did her best and made us Japanese food. Surprisingly, there was Sashimi (raw fish)! He said that he went to Denver to buy this. Denver is in Colorado.

"It's close, so we often go there. It's three hours by car." "three hours by car... Well, it is close..."

So this is what Americans mean by "close"? Either way, he did go out of state to get the fish. I ate sashimi, shrimp and white steamed rice in Nebraska. I was extremly impressed.

Mr.Oba is 71 years old and his parents are from Yamabuchi. They are very americanized, but also are a very Japanese couple. Other members of the group were eating hamberger at the camp around that time. I was eating Sashimi. I felt so bad for them because we ate such a wonderful meal, but I don't think they envied us at all.