We left Hamburg, Iowa at approximately 4:30 P.M. today after loading the bus with our clothes and provisions. The bus traveled down I-29 which we picked up about 1 mile out of Hamburg. As we traveled it was discovered that the bus was losing quite a bit of oil from somewhere in the engine. We ended up stopping within the first 40 miles from our starting point. Charles and Merle, the two men in charge of mechanics, could not find where the oil was coming from so we pulled into a truck stop to check out the problem before going on. Charles came forward and asked us as a group whether or not we should continue the trip. In the meantime, Charles had called a mechanic in Wichita, Kansas to make arrangements to have the bus repaired. We all agreed to go on with the hopes that the mechanic in Wichita could detect the problem and repair the bus allowing us to continue on our way.

We arrived in Wichita at 11:30 P.M. at the fleet service where the mechanic had agreed to do the work. Since he would not be on duty until 6:30 A.M., we had to spend the night on the bus. We were to have picked the people from Kansas up in Wichita Sunday evening and had called them advising them of our problem. We told them where to meet us this morning.

The bus was set up so that the tables in the back could be made into beds that could comfortably sleep 10 people. The plan was setup so 10 people would fill the beds until 1:00 A.M. At that time, the remaining people who were resting in seats would exchange places, thus giving everyone at least part of the night in a bed. This night however there were only 15 people on board so some of us were fortunate to have slept the entire night in a bed.

When we had crawled into bed, the bus was warm so we didn�t take any bedding down from the top bunk. Well, about 4:00 A.M. we woke up and it was freezing. The heater in the bus had shut off and allowed the bus to get very cold. We found covers and sleeping bags that no one was using so we took advantage of their warmth.