As we move slowly through the conversation, Mark’s eyebrow continues to bely his concern over the strange events that are unfolding…

We let the children go into a strange foreign city with a narcoleptic stranger driving a chopped up conversion/panel truck, what could possibly go wrong??

Sounds more like a kidnapping to me…

As the camera zooms in for effect, we see Mark continuing to question Joe’s bona fides…

…and c’mon Professor!  how well do you really know these people?  Isn’t that your job?  The job of any leader?  Trust given without being earned?  It’s a nasty world out there, and we all have to be on guard to some degree…  but of course we will now spend the next week engaged in a blow by blow discussion between Mark and The Professor…  tick, tock…

Well, that’s a tip-off if ever there was one…

Did he go to evil medical school??

The look on Mark’s face in the second panel is classic!  The raised eyebrow… the clenched jaw…  you can almost see his fists tightening…

I have to say that the artifacts in the bookcase are fairly pedestrian…  especially the one in the top right hand corner- what is that anyway??

Sorry to be catching up just now campers, but these last couple of strips haven’t exactly inspired me…

Judging by the scale, and applying some perspective, it looks like Raul has cleared a 10-foot span on his way to tracking down the Brats and the Mule…  Trackers tracking trackers…

Meanwhile, back a the dig site…

Saved your life?  Really?  How?  By drooling and snoring?

But clearly Mark’s Spidey-sense is tingling… He knows something is not quite right!  Not to mention the Lizardy-thing in the foreground stealing dinosaur sized eggs!

“Taking it to the rooftops” seemed a bit iffy, but Rusty and Mara, with their tell-tale silhouettes, are easily spotted in what appears to be a deserted section of the city…  I guess everyone has emigrated  north…

One thing that is interesting is the discipline that this strip maintains- despite the occurrence of Holidays and such- never a mention of special days like Thanksgiving or other opportunities to mark the calendar.  I suppose partly because there’s a fear that we’d lose the thread of the “story” unfolding in super slo-mo right before our eyes.  Really?  Not.

On this day, though, Thanksgiving 2018, I will take time to wish you all a very blessed day.  That I can sit here most mornings, free to to do pretty much whatever I want is a blessing in itself.  That I am still useful to society and have the opportunity to lead teams and help people live what might be their best lives brings me great joy.  I know that this Holiday is under fire as it pertains to its history and the story surrounding it…  And despite the valid points made in that realm, remember that as the earth grew more and more populated, and curiosities and desires drove behavior, we are probably more respectful and disciplined today that we were even a century ago.  We haven’t have a continent-sized attempt at a land-grab since WWII, and with the exception of the permanent war that we are promoting in the Middle East, we are pretty much at peace.  Let’s remember those that are not able to be together today, for that and other reasons.  But on that note, I am particularly thankful that this day will bring families together across the country, and to that point, I welcome my brother home for a visit that has occurred only infrequently over the past decades.  Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

What th…?!

Sorry, but unless he had those stashed in his chaps, I have no idea where Raul found his six-shooters…  I am suddenly reminded of of another scene where nature got the better of a guy with access to a gun…  My favorite movie:  My Cousin Vinny…

As Rusty and Mara are fixating on the Mule, and trying to figure out how to get Rusty’s phone back (talk about ‘splaining…) they are pondering recent decisions and choices that have left them wandering aimlessly in Santa Poco, Mexico!

And yes, Raul has taken to the rooftops to employ his (apparent) x-ray vision to locate Rusty and Mara!

Where he searches hopelessly for answers about the life he is leading and the bad choices that have led him to this crucial juncture…

Only to be tormented by a Toucan… Is this someone’s spirit animal that has been following this ‘storyline’ all the way from the resort to the dig site and now into the city?  It would seem so…

With all that, we are once again reminded that James Allen’s forte is one of arteest, not storyteller…  again, where is this going??

Just look at the bugle-mouth in the first installment:

That has to be the most unflattering look on a human being, and I am sure we all make that face depending on what we are saying.  It’s funny that in today’s world, catching that is increasingly easy as cameras advance in their capabilities and there are literally thousands of pictures from which to choose…  But for James Allen to purposely draw this mug says what?  I honestly don’t know.

Why are we trusting Juanito the mule?  And I had forgotten that Rusty sacrificed his smart phone to the cause…  That only happened (probably) a month ago…

Oh, worry not your little head, Master Trail, Papa’s on his way and he’s being set up!!

Is that the blue of his hair clashes with the pink of his chamois cloth shirt?  The fact that he has to wear chamois cloth in the tropics?  The fact that it wasn’t his idea to clog up his life with children?

And why is Professor Carter being dragged into this?  These aren’t his children.  Where are Mara’s folks?  Seriously.

We see a glimpse of the singing bush from The Three Amigos movie in the lower right corner of the second panel.  <<yawn…>>

I will not be posting again until Friday… hang in there Campers, I am sure that so much will happen… (sarcasm intended…)

Suddenly Mark is all lathered up at the thought of his bastard step son being in some kind of danger…  Not to mention the fact that Mara’s parents are nowhere to be found… having trusted the Trails to keep her somehow safe…

And as Jose tries to explain himself/ lure Mark into the fray, he slips in a bit of spanish for good measure…  Ju no how keeeds are… they sleeeped away… Eeet’s a Leeetle Compleeecated, but I’ll Es-plane…