The iconic long-nose of a Peterbilt truck I am sure has inspired many an argument amongst truck aficionados…  Mack, Kenworth, Volvo… Sort of like Cubs or White Sox, Mets or Yankees.  Designated hitter or not. Hell, anything would be more exciting that this story…

Again, what? Doesn’t Baldy know how to drive?  What use does he have for Mark now other than dead?  Smart of him, I guess, to demand the keys…

Mr. Cranky-pants!!

And it’s obvious by the two rutting elk, in the foreground of the second panel, that competition and conflict are not the exclusive domain of mankind… And I can also see a small structure in the upper right… civilization.  I wonder where they are on the map?!

She Speaks Again!  Now only to contradict the only other thing she said!

And where have you been, young lady?  We established Mark’s identity many installments ago… and Mark, always looking for a compliment aren’t you?  Only to be smacked down in person!  “You’re no entomologist!”  Ha! It doesn’t cut any deeper than that…

But seriously folks, as Mark used to say, “What th…?!”

I wish he would quickly, like how is Mr. Ponytail going to know what airstrip to go to… and why the hell didn’t they all just go the the plane in the first place and take off from Rapid city?  Why bring another witness into the mix?  Why do I care?

And it’s only now that Baldy has expressed even a slight interest in where they are going?  My head hurts like those two rutting rams in panel one!

The bleached mount on the roadside about says it all at this point…

And Mark’s constant prattling has managed to put Baldy to sleep and Blondie to affect her one and only “look.”  Sort of like Derek Zoolander…  who found he had but one look… but it was killer.

So that just goes to show you that rich guys don’t always have the best ideas…

So now it’s a ghost-strip to go along with the ghost-town… again, where is this going??  Nowhere fast, that’s for sure…

…it’s Mark.  If the whole point of this was to procure a get-away car/truck/SUV, that’s been accomplished.  Why Baldy hasn’t ice-ice-babied Mark or at least left him stranded at this point is a wonder to me…  Not to mention that Mark could ID the guy in his sleep by now.  Mark is a definite liability here.

Oh look, see the Big Horn Sheep!  For some reason come down from the elevations where one would normally find them…  Guessing they are very close to sea level at this point… but hey, what do I know??  Rapid City is at 3,200 ft!  But still I think these animals typically frolic at 6-8,000 ft based on my own expeditionary experience…

An airstrip huh? And Mr. Ponytail is in a plane?  Will he find his way out here?  Who knows… who cares??

Shoot!!

“The girl” means about as much to me as that hare getting raptored in panel one…

But what the heck, right?  Mr. Ponytail is still sitting in a plane at the airport?  While Baldy and “the girl” are driving to wherever Mark is going?  I am so confused.  No one ever said crooks are smart, but this guy is a real keeper…

There they are!  Lower left!  Cute little guys, about to emerge from an “abandoned” prairie dog burrow, abandoned because they ate all the prairie dogs!!  Looking to wreak more havoc on the landscape!

And what on earth is Mark hanging onto in the second panel?  That is the funniest looking steering wheel I have ever seen!  And all the shading drawn in around him?  Are we looking at Mark through Baldy’s eyes?  Does he have glaucoma?  I still don’t understand what Baldy’s strategy is here… there are probably 50  other ways to secure a getaway car that don’t involve brandishing a handgun and bringing other people into the situation, let alone Mark Trail…

I thought for sure yesterday that Mark was trying to remind the counter agent that he wasn’t fit to rent anything…  based on his dubious record of returning items unscathed…  But here we find him behind the wheel of a lovely blue SUV, apparently being paid for by one Leslie Joyce.  Who is what? A benefactor? An investor? A Sugar-Mommy?

But Mark, you are breaking with tradition!  Bad guys always call good guys by their surname- “Mr. Bond” or “Mr. Powers.”  “Nice try?”  How about, “Yea, right!”  Baldy probably has so many aliases he could tell you his name and it wouldn’t really be helpful!  And for love of Mike, that’s not a girl!  That’s a woman!  And doesn’t the kidnapper usually call the shots as far as where they go?  Are they going to drive to the Res and then what? Get introduced to Johnny Lone-Elk?

As Mark approaches the Rental Car Counter (which looks more like a makeshift lemonade stand…) we see the agent all hunched over with (as it turns out) her back to the world…  Maybe she just finished a sneeze, or is sneaking a drink of something…

Gertz!  Ha!  I see what you did there Mr. Allen!  But wait there’s more!  The line that Mark dreamt up that will keep him from being able to rent a car at all…  He’s invoking the “Water-World” defense- one more thing in life that caused great tumult but was clearly not his fault… recall Cherry reminding Mark of the last time that he and Johnny Lone-Elk got together… And Leslie Joyce!  We met her a loooong time ago when we were fighting Terrorism, World Domination and Radiated Sharks with Mississippi Ken!  And even though she provided the protective suit, she reminded Mark of something, something that happened that required Mark to have “some nerve” to call her…  Yup, I’m seeing a large bulletin board with pins and yarn connecting all these people and events!

With Mark stroking his whiskerless chin he is rapidly giving himself away!  The fact that he is thinking, thinking of a way out of this!  One that will out Ol’ Baldy and not get him and “The Girl” shot…

So it appears that he can’t walk and think at the same time, which is making everyone impatient.  “Give me a Minute- I’m working on it?”  That’s the best you got, Trail?! But with the knowing and cunning look, Mark clearly has something up his sleeve.  Why not a good old fashioned haymaker?  A roundhouse to Baldy’s jaw?  He’d never see it coming!  C’mon Mark, Just like in the old days…

Guy has gun, other guy doesn’t have gun.  Guy with gun makes guy without gun drive.  Gun stays trained on guy driving.  Let’s think about what happens to both guys if guy with gun shoots guy driving.  Both guys die.  Or at least get maimed…  And as we recall from her single verbal offering, the “girl” doesn’t read, or at least attaches very little value to those who write, so very little lost there if Baldy shoots her…

As has also been pointed out, cars are about the only form of rental in which Mark hasn’t been blacklisted…  so this is kind of funny.  He’ll end up doing something to hurt the car, and well, more paperwork.  But is he traveling on his own or on the Magazine’s dime?  I think we all know the answer to that one…

I mean, seriously.  Mark has to wonder why this is “normal” for him- no matter where he goes, he runs into trouble, or trouble seems to find him… Of course without trouble, the strip would become an impossible snooze… But lately the trouble is always directed at him… not around him… Cases in Point:  Rod Bassey wasn’t out to hurt Mark, just win fishing tournaments by cheating; Big Mike didn’t want to hurt Mark, he just ran a rigged hunting and expedition operation, and so on…

Yet here we are, again, with Mark’s life being threatened.  And he’s asking himself to THINK… Well, he’s not doing a very good job of that, as witnessed by this last week’s worth of installments.  And given the amount of traveling Mark does, wouldn’t he just be able to go out and pick his car, like in those commercials?  Why is he stopping at the desk?  His Name should already be on the board and the car waiting for him!  Maybe they don’t offer that service at the Rapid City Airport?  So many questions!

Mark, your exits from this situation are endless…  I don’t mean to sound heartless, but you don’t even know the girl.  I mean, she could be in on the whole thing.  Yea, sure Baldy, you’ll shoot the girl, right here is broad daylight, with at least two witnesses (Mark and the Fat-Cat from the other day…)  Just walking away comes to mind…

And what’s that sign in the upper right corner to panel two?  Is there a Duty Free Shop in Rapid City, SD?  A lot of international flights coming and going from this two-terminal setup?

Let’s get to the car rental counter!  Sort of like the Steve Martin character in Planes, Trains & Automobiles, although I doubt there will be any F-bombs hurled at the agent…

Instead, Mark will continue to be compliant with this stranger’s requests?  Why?  Mark!  Just tell this guy to take a hike- I mean, what’s he going to do?  Squint harder at you?  Try to look even more menacing?  Pull out the gun and shoot you? All highly improbable.  But OK, we’ll go along with it, we’ve got nothing better to do…

Geez, lady, whose side are you on, anyway?? Or are you just going along with Baldy so he won’t plug you?  Or perhaps you have already succumbed to Stockholm Syndrome…

But the look on Mark’s face in the second panel!  He’s not used to such negativity!  He’s never had to defend or justify himself to anyone!  That’s what decades of validation and praise will get you… So Mark regains his composure and steels himself against the negative onslaught… but if what you do is what you call “providing for your family” – living rent free in your Father-in-Law’s house- you have a thing or two to learn about “providing…”

As we continue to share pleasantries and CV’s, a large man in a suit appears in the foreground of panel two.  No idea what’s up with that…

Of course you’ve never heard of it, Baldy… clearly your life hasn’t been spent in leisure time activities, communing with Nature… I’d guess you were the product of either the foster system, or an abusive father, or both…  Probably didn’t get to go fishing as a youth, which is what set you on your life of crime.

I can honestly say that I am not referring to James Allen when I ask that question…  And Mark, why are you so willing to give up your identity and your purpose?  To a kidnapping goon?  And Bald-headed Goon, what possible connection is there between a visit to an Indian Reservation and being a writer?  Dear Lord, this is making my head explode!

But let’s consider that this is not the first time that Mark has had to introduce himself… and he’s always happy to do so.  Because it’s always all about him, right?  Shocking that Baldo hasn’t heard of Mark… I mean, who hasn’t?  And I might be mistaken here, but I don’t think Blondie has uttered a single syllable…

I have never owned a handgun, let alone tried to walk around with one jammed into my waistband…  That never looks even remotely comfortable (or feasible in my case…) Not to mention dangerous!  But then the criminal element is given to taking risks, otherwise they wouldn’t be doing the things they are doing!

I say one thing for Baldy, he’s got that “evil squint” thing down…  can he he even see??  And if this isn’t an argument for having security in place upon entering an airport terminal, I don’t know what is!  But it’s still not very obvious what the next move is here… “I want you to rent a car… yea, that’s it… and make it a big one- four doors at least…” I think it’s option 2 from yesterday’s comment (thank you, George)  but with the bad guy telling Mark what to rent.  I guess two charges of kidnapping/ abduction/ unlawful detainer isn’t much worse than one.  Let’s go all in…

Meanwhile Mr. Ponytail is sitting in the plane??