St. Louis County was the opposite case from the City. When we arrived the day before, my daughter and I went to the “courthouse,” but didn’t find a cache in the county, while in the City we found a cache but didn’t hit City Hall. We resolved all that after returning from Cahokia Mounds, but that doesn’t mean that it didn’t nag at me for a day.
The “courthouse” in Clayton was a mildly annoying nut to crack, but the county executive and clerk both worked out of the Lawrence K. Roos Building, a block away from the literal courthouse with the courts and all that. After wrangling back and forth over parking, I got the best photograph I think I was going to get. Besides, it was just an office building. There were no architectural marvels or oddities to see. A little part of me wishes there had been an older courthouse to find though. I would have just gotten that over this, being the aesthetic trash that I am.
After visiting the Gateway Arch and getting dinner, we headed south to a suburban neighborhood for a cache. I could have stopped anywhere for just any cache, but I saw one on the map that immediately caught my attention and knew I had to have it. I like little free libraries. I like TARDISes. Porque no los dos? Of course, there was a moment of embarrassment. It was obvious where the cache was located in the blue box, a drawer in the bottom of the structure. However, when we both fiddled with it, it wouldn’t open. Pushing, pulling, poking, nothing. Well, maybe the cache was cleverer than we thought. So I started pulling out the books inside. I thought that maybe there was something on a shelf behind the rows or maybe there was a fake book and a log was contained within. We even closely examined the lamp on top of the box, but no joy. My daughter began to lean down to examine the post when she put her hand on the drawer and felt it move. I gave it a heavier push and felt the mechanism click and pop open. Apparently, we just didn’t use enough force the first time. With a little egg on my face, I pulled out the bulging tin within and, as per tradition, invenimus, inscripsimus, reposuimus. Once everything was returned to its original state, we were off. We were close to our hotel and were leaving in the morning. We got a good night’s sleep and were moving before sunrise. Thanks to my daughter’s forbearance, I was able to accomplish one last task we hadn’t had time for since we arrived. For those of you who have been following me a long time, you know that I like to visit famous graves when I’m out on the road. The Bellefontaine and Calvary Cemeteries in St. Louis were chock full of famous names! Our first stop was the Bellefontaine Cemetery. I didn’t get everyone I wanted there (a couple of them I didn’t care about enough); time was short and an event was being set up that I wanted to avoid. But I did see …
… William S. Burroughs, author of Naked Lunch …
… the crypt of Adolphus Busch of beer fame (unfortunately, I didn’t go behind to see the stone of Eberhard Anheuser) …
… and Irma Rombauer, author of The Joy of Cooking.
The big get, of course was William Clark of Louis & … fame.
After an hour or so, we popped across the street to the Calvary Cemetery. There we saw …
… designers Charles and Ray Eames. The legendary Eames chair was mostly the work of Charles. Powers of Ten was mostly the work of Ray …
… Philando Castile (if you don’t know, you should) …
… Tennessee Williams, author of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, The Glass Menagerie, and, of course, the father of all Streetcar jokes …
… and the Fire Lord himself, William Tecumseh Sherman. In (almost) any other cemetery, he would be the big get, but in this one that spot was reserved for …
… Dred Scott.
And after leaving a token of respect, we were off again, this time leaving the St. Louis area entirely. There were a couple of graves I was sorry to not visit, but time was not on my side. Perhaps I’ll return (the city’s a good central place to launch road trips from) and visit them, but it was time to leave. We headed west to…
