My Boy Scout Troop and I camped out inside the cave at easily
I remember the Easley Cave well. One fall night, probably in 1970, after a football game, four of us drove down to the Missouri bottoms. We thought it would be fun to see the cave late at night, but we didn’t want to hike up the road, so I proceeded to drive my gigantic 1966 Pontiac Bonneville up the dirt road to the cave. My fraternity brother disappeared into the cave with his date and, after a long while, I started trying to get him to come out of the cave. They must have been having a good time in there, because they wouldn’t come out. I got tired of waiting, so I backed the down the road to the bottom. We waited at the bottom a long time. My date wasn’t going very well and she was really not very happy being down at the Missouri bottoms with this crazy guy at 2 am. After another 30 minutes passed, I got sick of waiting, and drove my car back up the dirt road to the cave.
Now this dirt “road” was nothing but a steep track barely a car width wide and certainly no place you want to take a gigantic, two-ton land yacht. Frank and his date emerged from the cave (looking mighty satisfied, quite pleased with themselves, and content) and they piled into the car. I started backing down the road...and the rear wheels promptly slid off the track and car high-centered. There was no way the car was going to move. Talk about a sinking feeling!
So here we are, stuck at the Easley Cave at 3 am, in a car half-hanging off the dirt road. We wound up spending the night in the car freezing, but there was no way on God’s green earth my date was going to cuddle to keep warm. She just wanted to be done with me for good.
Early the next morning (Sunday). I hoofed it to a farmhouse to borrow their phone to call the brothers at the fraternity. A crew of brothers came down around 7 am and we actually lifted up the rear of the car up and got it back on the road! I carefully backed down the track and we got back to Columbia.
My very prim and proper date never said a good word to me and I never saw her again. She was of the “Well I declare” and “I Never!” proper variety. I always wondered if she told her mom and dad about our little escapade. I think Frank saw his “cave date” a few more times after that, but nothing matched that first exciting date!