July 21st. St Louis.

Our last day in St. Louis and our wonderful hosts, Pat and Robin have a few more local delights to share with us. First stop was the ‘Route 66’ Museum just outside St. Louis on an old stretch of the original road. It had a lot of local history and memorabilia which helped put it all into a local context. Best of all were the two ‘gals’ who ran the souvenir shop as one of them managed to part a bewildered Willy of $5 to buy a ‘coin passport, a curiosity where, along the way there are machines which will flatten and stamp a penny as a souvenir of the places you visit. I do believe however, that at the end of the trip, Willy will have an impressive collection of flattened pennies.
At this point we heard some tragic news. We went back to pick Robin up and she was standing aghast in front of the TV. A young 21 year old, son of friends of theirs had just been shot. He was a paramedic and they were answering an emergency call. As he stepped off the fire-truck, a shot rang out and he was killed instantly. So a tall, handsome 21 year old college football player whose vocation was to help people in need becomes another victim. Wherever we live on this planet there are stories of this kind. Who will be the first to say ‘No’ – ‘Basta ya’.
We then headed off to visit the famous Meramac caves, one of the main tourist attractions along ‘66’, it is quite an elaborate cave complex with all the usual cave fittings – big chambers, stalagmites and stalactites, an underground river, bats and Willy. The high point was a ‘Son et Lumiere’ show to the tune of an ancient recording of ‘God Bless America’ with our tour guide frantically throwing light switches to add a percussive background. Then it was to embark on a brief river trip with a charming local named ‘Kim’, he was understandably very proud of the river (Meramac) and I’m sure he would have had some hoary old stories to tell if we had nabbed him later with a case of beer – he certainly looked as if he was no stranger to a can of ale. There were all these college kids on holiday doing what I can only describe as lolling around in the river, hanging off an inflatable dinghy and out of their minds, apparently it’s acceptable practice though someone had drowned the previous weekend. The Meramac caves has quite a bit of history as it was used a saltpetre mine during the civil war and was also a hide-out for Jesse James. We visited the ‘Jesse James museum and waxworks’ for a truly ‘66’ experience. Apparently, Mr. James was not murdered at the end of the 19th century, but lived on the ripe old age of 102, dying in 1951 but the jury is still out on that one. It was also a major dance venue in the middle of the 20th century where people would come out for a ‘Hootenanny’ a sort of ‘Ceili’, but the objective is always the same. We sat on the kerb of a petrol station and had some ice-cold beer in a man-sized can – bliss as the saltpetre was playing havoc with my delicate throat. Back to base where Robin surpassed herself again and produced what I call my ‘Death row dinner’ – T-Bone steak, Baked potato, Corn on the cob, Brocolli, Beans and a salad (Robin’s special secret dressing) – followed by her special ‘Banana split cake’ – bananas are only a small part of this delight as Robin manages to squeeze in pineapple and strawberries as well. I will be very sorry to leave these people tomorrow as they have been so warm, hospitable and kind to us, taking time to show us part of their city and state of which they are justly proud. Thank you very much Pat and Robin – words can not express our gratitude and I only hope we can repay your kindness when you visit Spain or Ireland – You have been warned!