Well, Hudson, it’s no mystery how you have been able to ascend to the heights of power and stay there…  remembering even the “little people” (who barge in on your private moments) who helped you get to where you are… Once again we have the concept of “old friend.”  As in “old boy’s network.”  Don’t ask, don’t apply for membership.  It’s like waiting in line for season tickets to Lambeau… Of course damning Mark with faint praise (which goes over the Trail head I assure you) “One of the best outdoor writers in the country…” What, is there some pantheon of outdoor writers that I am unaware of?  An annual award that Mark wins every three years just to make it not seem too rigged?  Real competition?  Hm.  I wonder…

So, if Anne Marie is the Senator’s daughter, then the timeline seems a bit off…  panel one shows Senator Mason in full geezer mode, belly paunch protruding, and even though he’s sucked it in for the middle panel, he’s still much too old to be her father… Grandfather maybe.  But then there are second marriages, surprises, who knows, right?  I am a little disappointed…  I was really hoping that Senator Mason would not be the epitome of the “Old White Guy,” but then this IS Mark Trail…

And lastly, it would appear that Ann Marie’s earring is glued to her cheek.  Poor girl, her lobe may have been chewed off by the wolves that raised her…