Heritage Gateways

Osamu Sekiguchi Journals

May 2, 1997

Location: Chapman, Nebraska - Location: 41:01:27N 98:09:32W Elevation: 1767 feet

Summary: Friday, May 2, 1997 (Cloudy / Rainy Day) Chapman

Journal entry: [Translated by Hajime Nakagawa]

It rained heavily both yesterday and today. Our camp was like a mire. The trailer which carries our horses couldn't lift itself out of a morass. It was hard work to set our tent up in the rain after we had walked so far. It was enough to make my children cry, but they helped put up the tent because they knew that they couldn't rest in the tent until we set it up.

I thought, "It seems very difficult to stay tonight in the rain." As I thought that, it was announced that we would be allowed to spend the night in a local church. Our wet baggage was carried to the church by bus. We were shown to a basement whose floor was concrete and cold, but it was better than getting wet.

The people in the town gathered to the church and cooked dinner for us. It was biscuits with gravy. I was happy for the warm meal, even though I didn't like the biscuits with gravy. One usually becomes blue when one gets wet. I hear that the Mormon pioneers traveled in bad weather. We had a bitter experience walking in our wet clothes, but I think our travel was much easier then the pioneers'.