The ol’ swimming hole is contaminated with wastewater, much to the Trails’ consternation. What to do? The ongoing story this past week saw the Trails move from the closed lake to an impromptu backyard slip n’ slide party and barbeque at the home of Ranger Shaw, the father of Rusty’s sometimes-friend, Robbie. In the backyard sipping iced tea and eating hotdogs, Mark tried to get information from Ranger Shaw about the contamination, only to find out that he claimed to know nothing about its source. This made Mark suspicious, given the weeks he and his colleagues have had to investigate. Mark is right to be suspicious, with Range Shaw’s questionable actions in the past and his seeming inability or unwillingness to help out (e.g. the Grungey Boys’ so-called lawnmower races in Lost Forest).

And wouldn’t you know it, just at this point in time, Mark gets a call from his dad, Happy Trail. Always nice to hear from family, right? Well, there was no discussion of weather, no “How’s Rusty?”, or “When are you all coming down to visit?” Nope, Happy Trail jumped right to the point: “There’s a golf course opening just north of you!” Since Mark has no history of playing golf, we have to wonder why Happy Trail even knew about it or bothered to tell Mark. My guess is that Happy is financially involved in the course and it will wind up being another scam.

Finally, there was some noteworthy art: A nicely drawn foreshortened view of Rusty sliding on Robbie’s slip n’ slide toward the reader; and a less-than-complimentary image of Cherry, seen from the back, in profile (shudder!).

Today’s Title Panel is a clever, well-drawn take on the stereotypical vacation post card. And I’m glad to see fewer images of Mark filling the Sunday strip. Celebrate biodiversity, okay. Fine! But the execution of today’s “biodiversity” doesn’t live up to the definition. In fact, two of the animals here each take up two panels! What about flora? Sea life? And keep in mind that the main purpose of the Mark Trail Sunday strip is already meant to show and educate us on the diversity of wildlife and nature! Call me cynical, but today’s strip smells like deadline pressure.