I’m definitely not going to review the week I’ve had up here. That goes outside of what this blog is about. And that’s all I’m going to say. I think Mark Trail will understand.

Speaking of Mark (and who else would we be talking about?), he and Cherry continued their phone call with Cliff all week, discussing a trip to Las Vegas for a Woodsman Olympics, an event Mark never heard of, even if Cliff did. And Cliff also had an invitation for Mark. Turns out it’s an all-expenses paid trip for Mark and the Family Trail, with the chance to win an amazing $5,000.00 grand prize! Maybe that paltry sum balances out with the added cost of the flights, the lodging, and the food.

OOPS! Major Retraction: I may have to toss out a lot of what I wrote this past week. My original research on the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest was faulty. I thought that it was just one, large area. Upon reading the fine print (motivated by the map in today’s strip), I discovered the HTNF actually sits in several, non-continuous areas across Nevada and a bit of California. It appears that the closest part of this HTNF to Las Vegas may be in Spring Mountains (not to be confused with Mountain Springs). But it’s okay if you are confused. Like me.

So, Mark and Cliff won’t have to go too far, anyway. I think. Still, this olympic event smells, but I’m a skeptic by nature, and a part-time cynic on weekends. So, of course something will go wrong: Another forest fire, a casino scam, or maybe a clever trap set for Mark by one his standard-issue villains. The last villain Mark dealt with that worked a scam in a mountain forest was Sid Stump, who also had a cameo in the AI scam story in NYC. Perhaps Sid is running this event to get back at Mark. If so, I give Mark permission to unlimber his Fists O’ Justice for a good cause, because Sid Stump is a pathetic bad guy.

Rivera continues her tradition of linking the Sunday nature page to some aspect of the location where Mark is or is heading. It’s a nice bit of continuity. So we get a PSA for the non-contiguous Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest (HTNF). By the way, I’m not sure I would call all of those animals local Nevada animals, given their actual geographic distributions; but with my confusion about the HTNF, I’m going to let it all slide.