So.  It’s coming together… slowly.  I think.

Leslie Joyce (provider of the radiation-proof diving suit that Mark used to foil an international terrorist plot along with Mississippi Ken) is somehow connected to Waterworld, the scene of unknown but probably destructive hijinks with Johnny LOne Elk…  And Mark rented a car under her name in order to send a message to the outside world that he is in trouble?  What? is this a code word/name that he and Cherry agreed to for use in such occasions as the current one?  Kidnapping/ False Imprisonment or some such thing where Mark wants to put the world on notice that he’s in trouble and needs help?

Thank goodness I went into the woods this weekend and only have to wait until tomorrow morning!  The suspense would have otherwise killed me!

Couldn’t have been the FBI’s… As Agent Paul continues to run his mouth and share info that Cherry doesn’t have a need to know, he is soiling this crime scene almost as if he intended to!

And what does this 1960 281 series tanker truck have to do with anything except that the GPS was planted on it to take people off the trail- quite frankly the first smart thing that Baldy did in this entire story line…  Remember the all-white ghost truck?  I guess it’s toast now…

As Nature, oh Cruel Nature, plays out at Lost Forest, and the sun has yet to set on day one of this saga, Cherry offers more information and in return gets more of the story…

The Station Chief looks mighty pissed at Ol’ John Paul… I’m guessing that he doesn’t appreciate the way that he is offering information that Cherry doesn’t need to know and using language that is euphemistic and metaphoric… Literally a dead end?  I don’t think so…

When on earth would he have time to do that?  Or maybe it’s a compendium of all the “articles” he as written over the years… re-use, recycle… that’s one way of getting through life… I’ll bet it sold at least 100 copies…

Nice sensible attire, Cherry.  Looks like you just returned from a parent-teacher conference or something… assuming Rusty actually goes to school.  We’ve never heard ‘boo’ about any academic pursuits pertaining to their adopted ward…

But really, Cherry…  do you really know what Mark does when he is away?  Why he could be a regular Charles Kuralt, complete with second family…

…that we know too well.  As in, what trouble has my husband gotten into now?  As in, this is getting really old.  As in, what have I gotten myself into?

How the heck would Cherry know that the phone lines are down? And that Jimmy only has a land line?  And doesn’t Mark have a cell phone?  And why didn’t Baldy take that away from him?  Why hasn’t mark sent a text?  Or something?  What was his big idea anyway?

Holy Comic Time!  We were introduced to Baldy and Co. on March 31st!  We are going on the third complete month since then and the earth hasn’t even completed a single rotation in the Trailverse…… wow…

By now I am sure that Cherry is asking herself why she lets Mark go anywhere… All he does is attract trouble and calamity.  But there was of course plenty of foreshadowing regarding hooking up with Johnny Lone Elk (who Mark refers to simply as “Lone Elk…“)  So let’s all try to keep up, Kids, the sun should be setting in a week or two…

Seriously… Let it roll to voice mail and and let who (whom?) ever leave a message.  I probably get five spam calls a day on mine.  If I don’t recognize the number, I let it roll…

Anyway, thank goodness this part of the story is starting to unfurl.  The tension here is unbearable (OK not really…) but it will be good to string a few dots together… Speaking of unconnected dots, what the hell is happening with Dirty Dyer?  We had but a glimpse of him having returned from the dead a while back (February!) but with no current hint of his whereabouts…

JP!  What the hell have you been doing??  I asked you to call Trail’s wife about two weeks ago!!  Jiminy Crickets, man!!  Do I have to do these things myself?

OK, we KNOW that we lost track of Trail once he left the airport!  Isn’t it your JOB to pick up the scent and find him??  Head over to the airport and check the rental records at least?  FBI… sheesh.  They could use some good press these days what with all the BS going on at the top of the org in Washington… at the rate we are going here the boss-man just might complete his hair replacement program!

Oh gosh, Mr. Trail, whatever do you mean?  Do you mean we are in danger?!  Being forced out onto the prairie was a bad idea??

Enough of the idle prattle about storms and such…  Below is a great example of use and re-use…  Baldy has only so many “looks,” one of which we’ll call “Resting Bitch Face.”

Take the “look” from a week ago, flip it, add some shading, and voila, there you have today’s head shot…

Yea, I’d say… One really has to wonder what sets a man on a path of no good?  For Walter White it was the realization that he was dying and that he hadn’t done anything to leave his family well situated upon his demise…  So he did what he could, hedgehog style, and used his knowledge and skill to manufacture the best crystal meth the plant has ever known.  He “Broke Bad…”

But for Baldy, now clearly out of his element and locus of control, he has to question everything because he simply doesn’t know whether he is being fed a line of BS or not…  So now he has no other choice than to fall into Mark’s trap… along the ridge at Vulture Creek… ominous enough for you??

All that chatting about the weather?  Well, looks like Baldy was wrong about Mark and Johnny getting “chummy…”  Looks like they were all business up ahead on the Trail…

So as Mark gallops the 30 feet separating he and Johnny from the Bad Guy and the girl (whose allegiance we can’t quite determine) we continue on the slow burn that will probably take us into the July 4th Holiday weekend…

For a control freak he’s certainly let this situation get out of control…  and when’s he going to realize that he’s outnumbered, gun or no gun?  That the gig was up the minute we entered into the Trail-zone?

Yea… I don’t like it when people get all chummy, see?  Reminds me of my own miserable life where I haven’t known a single friend and only get what I want by threatening and beating people…

But let’s look at this again… they are riding off onto the plain with saddlebags stuffed with money and not camera equipment- why?  Baldy could have been taken out days (weeks) ago… why not?!  We supposedly have local law enforcement and the FBI on the case… Oh please can we wrap this up?!

…for a short drink of water.  Ha, ha.  I get it.  Very funny…

So much going on!  Raptors! Prey! Prairie Dogs!  Not a single Ferret, though… and isn’t that why we are in the Badlands to begin with??  And Baldy and Blondie are closing in…  What’s next??  Mark you had better share your master plan with Johnny or else it’s all improv…

And don’t forget Mark, your lack of action has left you in hostage mode too…

But are you telling me you had this plan all figured out as you were renting the car?  Over a month ago?   You assumed that you would drive all the way to Jimmy and Sarita’s house, all of you would get on horseback and then you could stage your daring escape from the one taking hostages?  By engaging in a little trick riding?  Uh, OK…  I guess.

Thank you Mr. Film!  It takes a while, but Johnny Lone Elk finally cuts to the chase and calls out the obvious…

But to the point made yesterday, Mr. “Egghead” can see the two of them talking, so it’s only a matter of time (weeks?) before he’ll call an end to the discussion/ plotting, threaten to “shoot the girl” and we’ll be back where we started, only now on horseback heading toward a ghost town with a twister bearing down on them…  oh the suspense…

You are not in charge here any more, this is not your domain.  It’s still a wonder why you are engaging in the kind of getaway that doesn’t get you away, and you’ll have to live with the consequences of that decision…

But wait- is that a Prairie Dog in panel two?  Ah… so what…

Gang, I gotta be honest here… this is just becoming a chore.  And if it ain’t fun, then why do it?  It’s been a decent ride these last few years, but these postings will start becoming a little more dispersed, like when something really happens or the muse strikes…

…they were referring to Johnny and not Jimmy!  You’d think that with the pace this story is going I would be able to keep up with the conversation…  So now that we have that sorted out…

Yea, you can always shoot the girl, if that’s what you really want to do anyway, and if you think that would help…  I remind us, tough, that Baldy is thoroughly outnumbered and Mark and Johnny could probably have him lassoed and hog-tied before  you could say Mark Trail…

And we’re back…  hoping that another installment might shed some light on where this is all going.  Yeah.  Right.

When we last heard from Jimmy and Sarita, they were hemming and hawing over what they should be doing, but agreeing that staying put was their best option…

Meanwhile Baldy isn’t “liking” the fact that there is a “gap” building between him and Jimmy.  Again, I say, if he is an expert in “getting away” he really doesn’t understand the first thing about it!  He is collecting witnesses at a rate that would make a Kardashian blush…

With more non-sequitur comments and inane plot devices piling up, we are left to wonder whether Jimmy owns a truck, or if they took all the horses, or what the hell he means by his comments today…

Besides, who asked you to go after them, Jimmy?  I thought you were waiting for the Sheriff to arrive?  And ask if you can borrow his cell phone.  Whatever.

I was about to blow off today’s installment, given that it’s another do-nothing, go-nowhere piece, but then I noticed the little mountain lion cub getting all frisky in the lower right, lashing out and the “JAMES ALLEN” Orb.  Something I think we all would like to do…

And it’s now clear that Jimmy and Sarita need to join the 21st Century (Hell, Mark has…) and get themselves a cell phone…  and that the lines went out in South Dakota, not necessarily Lost Forest.  One has to also wonder how Cherry’s conversation with the FBI went!