I imagine Cowboy Pat selected this stop because Jesse James and his gang used these caves for a hideout. The last time I saw him, he said he takes the same vacation every year to visit the Old West town of Tombstone, Arizona.
I've always liked cowboys, too. I remember when my Dad bought the first RCA color television on our block that "Bonanza" was about the only show broadcast "in living color."
My family loved watching it every Sunday night. My first guitar had cowboys painted on the dark brown face, and the lamp in my bedroom had a cowboy scene on the shade and ceramic cowboy boots base. I played cowboys and Indians (sorry for not being politically correct, but that's what we called the game) regularly as a kid, both with "little men" and Lincoln Log forts I built as well as running outside around with cap guns. I wish I could find the album of my favorite song as a child, 
which told the story of a little boy who saved his family and their ranch house from an attack. From John Wayne movies to the TV shows "Maverick," "Cheyenne," "Bat Masterson," "The Rifleman," "Sugar Foot" and Steve McQueen's "Wanted: Dead or Alive," I loved them all. My mom and dad did too, which gave me something to share with them.
In August of 1964, my family went on what I guess you could call a Wild West vacation. We went to Yosemite National Park, Calico Ghost Town, Virginia City (famous to me from "Bonanza"), the Grand Canyon and, in New Mexico, Carlsbad Caverns. We all thought the Carlsbad Caverns was better than the Grand Canyon. As a souvenir, I bought a little spiral bound book of photos, and from what I can tell, we didn't take any photos. I don't know what happened to that souvenir book. 
Instead, we have photos of Darlene and I at a swimming pool in Fresno, and of course for kids, spending time at a motel swimming pool is always a treat. Still, I know that I was more impressed by the Carlsbad Caverns than by Meramec Caverns.Having grown up in Southern California, I visited Knott's Berry Farm frequently growing up, and one of our favorit rides was the Calico Mine Train, which was patterned after places like Carlsbad and Meramec Caverns. These fake caverns paled in comparison to the real thing, and perhaps my memory of Carlsbad Caverns became inflated by years of saying that. I need to go back to the Carlsbad Caverns to find out.
Another connection to these caves, especially for someone traveling during the bi-centennial summer, was Injun Joe's cave in Mark Twain's classic "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer." Mark Twain may be the greatest American author, capturing the changing times of the 1800s with humor and insight that helped move society forward, but to be perfectly honest, I watched the movie on "The Wonderful World of Disney" long before I read the book, and that is what I still envision. Missouri is known as "The Cave State," and there's an official Mark Twain Cave near Hannibal as well as lots of other caves, but you get the idea.
I just realized that I have not given a physical description of Meramec Caverns. I guess I assumed that everyone had at least been on the Calico Mine Train has seen the eerie looking columns falling from the ceiling and rising from the floors. Stalagmites and stalactites naturally occur in limestone caves when drips from the ceiling. The slightly acidic water dissolves some of the limestone and pulls it down toward the floor like an ice cycle, forming stalactites when the water evaporates. Some of the water doesn't evaporate, instead dripping down where it reacts with the limestone on the floor of the cave, building slowly over time into stalagmites. They give an otherworldy appearance to the caves. Unfortunately, I either ran out of film or lost this roll, because I didn't take any photos, but the video below gives a better look than a still photo anyway.
After leaving Meramec Caverns, we picked up the pace considerably. Having stayed up two of the three previous nights, I probably slept through a lot of the drive. The next thing I can remember is driving into New York City.
