Cats in general are adaptable… Even the domestic variety. In my experience they retain many of their “Wild” tendencies, even if they become accustomed to finding fresh kibble in their bowl on a regular basis. I must say, however, that last panel is supposed to be a shark? I’m not seeing it.

OK, lots to take in here! From the dailies, we jump from Cherry and the Trailer Park (putting the FUN back into dysFUNctional) to Mark at the shore. But what’s with the flying banner? I didn’t think we were near Miami, but oh well, maybe just trying to lure people down there? And but for the installment below, we really don’t know who this “Niecy” is… But apparently she and Mark go way back and she is an attorney?

Yes, Niecy is Jolly’s daughter who (for the first time) hints at Mark’s reputation for punching first and asking questions later… But there he is! Mark Trail’s farther.

Marky, indeed! Boy Happy is a smooth talker, isn’t he? And apparently has made NO effort to keep up with his son and what’s he’s up to… Or Mark has estranged himself, offering up nothing… And a mere mention of the Farm turns Happy Trail into a zombie? Complete with a goon-squad?

Methinks Happy doth protest too much… He is basically admitting to everything in his denials. This assumes (or not) that Mark has laid out the case and he is responding to it, or Happy is immediately anticipating the complaint and laying down the flack… And Mark, C’mon… Why does anyone own a speedboat?? Guessing that your pop might feel the need for speed!

Let’s take stock, again, I suppose: Poppy and Cherry got the hell out of Christmas, Florida when “Mama’s” mental illness became too much.

No we have the truth coming out that has left Rusty’s “Poppy” ashamed all these years… And not a little conflicted, it would seem…

Fast forward, “Mama” had two more girls, Olive and Peach, by whom? Who knows?? Certainly not by Poppy… Stepsisters, then.

And, Scene… Olive seems to take after Mama, and Peach is the peacekeeper/caretaker. Probably not the first time we have seen mental illness and co-dependency in the funny papers, but certainly the first time we’ve seen it called out in MARK TRAIL! But come to think of it, we’d only have to scratch a little on the veneer of the old to see where there was a certain unhealthy dynamic…

As you recall, Mark was wrapping up his taped interview with Jolly over how Trail, Sr. chiseled Jolly’s land out from under him… Well, that didn’t take long… Mark now has enough information for at least 3 column inches in Teen Sparkle… but fear not, we are about to learn from the master, all about Climate Change’s impact on the prevalence of toxic algae… Da da da duuuuuuuummmmm…..

I think that it’s well established that farm runoff has created a massive dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico, the accumulated result of all the runoff in the Mississippi River system… Which has been measured since 1985, back when I believe we worried about Global Cooling…

But let’s go back to the Trailer park… Where Rusty is witnessing ugliness on a grand scale:

But Mother always knows best. Nothing a bucket of still, Mosquito-Larva-laden water won’t bring to a screeching halt… Yes, Cherry, it’s MAMA

“You pick a fight with my babies…” Is Cherry not one of “your babies” as well, or is it her first-born status that relieves her of that consideration? Cherry looks just like MAMA, for what it’s worth…

Assuming that the protesters above are gathering to support Jolly, one has to wonder from whence the “Backlash of hate” emanated… Did the Senior Trail unleash a goon squad to consolidate and ensure his ongoing position of power?

Well, we can’t say that we aren’t going deep in this re-boot. Replacing the simple and expected with the complex and involved. I know that this change has been a tough pill to swallow, and who knows what kind of following this strip will engender, but here it is. The depth of the character development and the sharing of backstories is much more (graphic) novel-esque, consistent with the current author/artist. I, for one, am in.

Onto the drama! And the past that Mark has successfully avoided for some time…

A knowing grimace, a random frog, and off we go…

“Say what?!” the Squirrel seems to be saying… Don’t take the deal! You are getting played!

Well, let’s call it for what it is. The Racial over- and under-tones of this story cannot be ignored or denied. Happy Trail could have just as easily hoodwinked a trusting white guy, but he didn’t. Jolly is a black man, Happy is a white man. Funny that they both have first names cloaked in mirth… but that’s not important, I suppose… What I m reminded of is a recent PBS show, An American Experience episode that featured the story of the Florida Everglades, in which it chronicled human efforts to drain the swamp and people of color trying to escape the bonds of sharecropping and Jim Crow. No doubt Jolly came from that lineage and had built up a going concern…

Nice Ostrich! AWK! indeed…

Truck door handle… right. Sometimes one can’t see the forest for the trees. Poor Rusty. He came from dysfunction only to land right back into a different brand of it.

Apparently Olive and Peach don’t talk much! Or look at the same Social Media sites. Or accesses Social Media at all… Considering how focused Mark and Cherry are on growing their Social Media Brand, one would think that they aren’t terribly difficult to find… “Cave Man??” Will the bring-downs ever end? Of course it’s not challenging to surmise that the younger Pitt Sisters have a dim view of the Male of the Species.

I love it! Rusty utters the classic “What Th–?” But it’s really unclear what he is grabbing at, which of course creates its own tension. Meanwhile, over stage left, the reunion is going swimmingly!!

We were promised that Cherry and Rusty would be more than mere bookends. Looks like that promise is being kept.

Well, here we are. Home Sweet Home.

Edgy! Real! What is “Peach” holding up in the center panel? I like how we are mixing spots and stripes! Can’t wait to meet “Mom!” Looks like Cherry’s parents had a nasty split. Mom got the trailer, the two younger daughters, and Dad got the cabin and land. Cherry appears to not have let the door hit her on the ass as she left…

Oh Rusty, welcome to your adopted family! You think times were interesting with your abusive, alcoholic father? Welcome to Middle-of-Nowhere Florida! Where Corn, Cattle and Gators co-exist!

Cherry is clearly in her own space at this point, girding herself to meet up with members of her own family… conveniently and wantonly forgotten…

Enough with the non-sequiturs and vague references… One would have had to be following very closely to keep up with the back and forth going on ever since Mark left Lost Forest for a walk, ran into Kelly Welly, conferred with Ralph the Rat Snake, was interrogated by Cherry and hopped into his car…And now we find ourselves in the humble abode of Roger, Jolly (‘Jolly’ apparently his first name, ‘Roger’ the surname…) in order to have this all spelled out for us. Mark’s dad was (is?) the evilest of evil- a profit motivated Robber Baron who stole land for… his own use in a commercial enterprise <Trademark> Happy Trails.

I suppose there’s no bag limit on invasive species… Like Burmese Python. I like how the Sunday strip supports the over all story line. I have to admit I had no idea that this was an issue in Florida! Living in the Great North (not the Midwest) invasive species involve things like Buckthorn, Emerald Ash Borer or Zebra Mussels.

Ah yes. The nod to 2020. The year that will live in infamy for so many reasons. “Lil’ Marky Trail…” Yes, by George, you are correct, apparently we have to tear Mark down in order to build him back up. Reminds me (dare I say it) of the “Lil’ Marco” encounter from the 2015 Presidential debates. Yuk.

Thank goodness for Jolly and the driver! Prying the snakes jaws open to release its quarry!

Awww… now Mark feels bad for having disrupted the snake’s day. And it appears that Mark’s ability to talk to snakes is well established…

The problem with Pronouns. It’s never clear (purposefully?) about whom we are really talking. First you (Jolly) say “Yes,” then you (potentially) contradict yourself, Jolly Roger. Who is (Who’s) not whose Father?! Back to the English Language… are we confused now? Who, Who’s, or Whose? Why?

…and to Pythons, apparently.

What I don’t understand is that Mark drives to some dark swamp, gets a ride on an airboat, hooks up with this “Jolly Roger” dude, whose first name is apparently “Jolly,” who dons a poncho despite just having been in the water, who just made some off-handed remark about having his land stolen from him (by Mark’s father) and now Mark is wading, chest-deep, with poncho on, into a constrictor- laced pond? All this makes total sense… right? Whispers of the Allen yarn featuring under-cover CIA operatives posing as Sleepy Joe and either Cheech or Chong … delivery truck driver and biker in Central America chasing Rusty and his would-be girlfriend Mara around…

Oh, that’s right… we know! Back in 1946, Mark thought Cherry was being chased by a bear, only to find out that Cherry and the Bear were just frolicking…

Of course Cherry was modeled after an Ava Gardner or some other Matinee idol of the day…

But back to the latest re-boot… Looks like Cherry has some truth-telling of her own to do!

What?! Well, this is going to be interesting! An entire Family Tree put on its ear!

Based on today’s installment, Rusty appears to be fully aware of his adopted status, it would seem, so what’s the crisis brewing with Doc, aka Poppy? But I would imagine that this is a challenge for many adopted children- knowing from whence they come… beyond the emotional, there is the practical. What am I prone to medically? What do I need to be aware of?

So, Cherry snaps at Rusty as he dismisses the idea that he has a family… complete with eye-roll in the middle panel… maybe now is the time to have that “Discussion?”

Knowing one’s roots is basic, at least in my opinion… It boils down to single lines of cause and effect: but for the lives of two people who sprung from separate and random origins, but for the alignment of fate, I would not be here. Maybe that’s a bit overblown, but as I have studied, with the help of my elders, the lines of cause and effect that resulted in my life, I have discovered interesting things. For one, the luck of an intrepid man-servant plying the Atlantic ocean along with 101 other souls, roughly 400 years ago, swept overboard but lucky enough to have grabbed hold of a halyard and pulled back aboard-ship: that man was John Howland. He was mighty prolific in his day along with his wife Elizabeth Tilley, and through their first born daughter Desire, I am certainly grateful and certainly not the most famous of their many ultimate descendants.

Happy Thanksgiving, y’all. Be safe and be grateful.

I love how the Trail vehicles show age and wear, not like the $80,000 Escalade variety that Allen’s Cherry Davis Trail somehow found herself driving… Although this truck is ‘new’ enough to have head restraints, which first started showing up in 1969 when they were mandated by the NHTSA.

Question: Can Rusty keep up this rapid-fire, staccato interrogation all the way to Florida?

I guess we’ll learn more about the “Waterslide Summer Project Deal” in future strips…

That’s right, Campers, keep your head on straight and watch those impulses! Although this did give rise to an entire industry- snake removal services!

Back to the back story…

Appears that Doc Davis has secrets as well… but is the big “lie” the fact that Cherry is adopted too?

Awwww… cute. Cherry as a little girl. We also note that Doc was losing his battle with Male Pattern Baldness even, what, 30 or 40 years ago? And that his taste in clothing, jeans with a yoke style shirt, hasn’t changed. Looks like he sported the ol’ “bolo” tie when he was younger.

…and it looks like he has found it!

Up pops Jolly Roger! (new character) Arghh! (that’s pirate talk…) Out of a what? A tiny sinkhole? (Florida is lousy with ’em) With snake in custody? (For what? Why?) Mark’s father stole his farm? (Huh?)

“Driving into a storm,” though, should be taken both literally and figuratively, even as Mark (I am sure) breaks any number of laws Facetiming behind the wheel… Nice ride, Mark…look at that Station Wagon! No head rests! Two-tone! Analog instrument panel! Reminiscent of the Plymouth Grand Fury or Buick Estate… Now we are talking!