On our fourth day in Alaska, we started with a last great breakfast at the Snow City Cafe. We then drove to Denali National Park where we will finish the day white water rafting with the outstanding people of RaftDenali (more on that later). We made a stop at a ramshackle rural store run by Mike Carpenter. It can easily be mistaken for a pile of discarded odds and ends but there is a genius to the place which sells everything from old washing machines to a severed human hand.
If you are not looking for either, you can have some memorable conversations with Mike and those who hang out at the store. One could take hours just to explore the Flotsam and jetsam that washes up at Mike’s doorstep. I last visited him three years ago and the place has only increased in its assemblage of oddities of human life.
Here are some of the pictures:
Highly functioning hoarder.
I hope the “old” man can get out the chair before winter sets in!
Really enjoying the Americana.
We made a stop at a ramshackle rural store run by Mike Carpenter. It can easily be mistaken for a pile of discarded odds and ends but there is a genius to the place which sells everything from old washing machines to a severed human hand.
Mr. Carpenter presents a world few Americans can comprehend today since many reject interacting with other people and live in a bubble behind internet identities. His various tchotchkes tell a story: NRA sign, Trump/Pence sign, many furs, (prayer?) beads, many humorous items, appearing surreal to “modern” expectations. Overall he reflects a life of being content with his surroundings and of course dependent on interacting with others.
Whitewater rafting is another example of people having to interact with others to accomplish feats of survival.
Life: a team sport
Thanks for sharing the great photos. Safe travels. Saint Raphael Archangel, pray for us
JT, maybe Mr. Carpenter is your angel, St. Raphael.
8 Prayer, fasting, and alms, said he, here is better treasure to lay up than any store of gold. 9 Almsgiving is death’s avoiding, is guilt’s atoning, is the winning of mercy and of life eternal; 10 the sinners, the wrong-doers, are enemies to their own souls. 11 Come, let me tell you the whole truth of the matter, bring the hidden purpose of it to light. 12 When thou, Tobias, wert praying, and with tears, when thou wert burying the dead, leaving thy dinner untasted, so as to hide them all day in thy house, and at night give them funeral, I, all the while, was offering that prayer of thine to the Lord. 13 Then, because thou hadst won his favour, needs must that trials should come, and test thy worth. 14 And now, for thy healing, for the deliverance of thy son’s wife Sara from the fiend’s attack, he has chosen me for his messenger. 15 Who am I? I am the angel Raphael, and my place is among those seven who stand in the presence of the Lord
Old Testament, Book of Tobit 12:8-15
http://www.newadvent.org/bible/tob012.htm#vrs15
Mass shootings are a disgrace to those who hate the Catholic tribe. Members of the Laurence Tribe and the Osage Tribe have been known to fire shots into churches of the Cat O Lic faith during mass. They blame to Lics for a mass grave outside an Osage Reservation.
Jonathan,
You might want to fix the following:
https://twitter.com/JonathanTurley/status/1159156337013477376?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Eembeddedtimeline%7Ctwterm%5Eprofile%3Ajonathanturley%7Ctwcon%5Etimelinechrome&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fjonathanturley.org%2F
“a$$ shootings are followed by scenes of sorrowful politicians, which are then followed by minimal actions. Politicians routinely propose reforms they know will not pass constitutional review, creating little beyond political cover.”
Obviously, you intended it to be:
Mass shootings are followed by scenes of sorrowful politicians, which are then followed by minimal actions. Politicians routinely propose reforms they know will not pass constitutional review, creating little beyond political cover.
If you are shot in the ass you cannot buy gas in Denali.