Oh, Mark, you are surrounded!!  Let’s see, when was the last time you engaged with the political elite?  1958?  Things HAVE changed a bit since then, Old Friend.  It’s a different world, where money DOES talk, and Bullshit walks…  Your writing and thinking have now been called out TWICE for being a “bit idealistic…” not rooted in the reality of the modern day.  You see, we all have i-Phones or Galaxies…  With all the talk of GREEN and FOOTPRINTS of CARBON, most of us really couldn’t give a real damn, since we are mostly concerned with have the power to light up all of our various devices…

And what would those “Matters” be, Senator?  One can only imagine… With a brand like “Hudson Mason,” how much campaigning really has to go on?  And clearly the interests have made their way into his old, leathery hide, and with that awesome ‘stache and genial smile, how could you not trust this guy?

Wearing your hair a little long, though, aren’t you Johnny?  That’s a mighty big tip-off in the Trailverse for a person who is less than forthright and stout of heart…

Remember we are at a LAKE HOME??  Maybe I just get the wrong impression, but it looks like Johnny is ready to apply for a job!  Or maybe he and Ann Marie are going out for a fancy dinner at the local supper club!  Senator Mason seems to be the only one who is down with chillin’ at the lake…

That is one hell of a door bell, too!  DING DONG it says… before Mark and Senator can respond to Ann Marie’s Gracious offer.   Darling, now that’s a funny last name, although not entirely unusual… like the last name of the family in the story Peter Pan…  Or perhaps it’s simply a term of endearment.  Hard to know in these exchanges.

Oil!? Mark Exclaims, as if he had never heard of the stuff…  but in the foothills of the Great Smokey / Blue Ridge Mountains? You bet, Mark.  It’s already happening!

“…but you can kiss my wrinkled, dimpled, gray-haired posterior…”  Senator Hudson Mason would seem to be saying…  The mood has certainly shifted in the last 30 seconds…  Will the young, idealistic, star-struck Ann Marie jump in the middle of this and talk some sense into her “father?”

“Not too long ago” is an interesting concept in the Trail-verse, where time goes backward, stands still and marches forward all at once… “There was a time Senator when you were easier to buy… but for a simple vote… who is in your knickers now?  Who has pictures of you with the Nanny-goat?”

Yes Mark, “things change.”  “I used to be a younger man;  you, on the other hand, don’t age, you bastard.  I have sold my soul and become a hollow shell into which younger men’s dreams flow.  I can only live vicariously through the achievements of others.  Try walking a mile in my support hose and slippers and you will know what that feels like…

Yup, Unrealistic.  That’s what YOU PEOPLE can be…  I think the last politician to use that phrase was Ross Perot in the 1992 Presidential campaign… and that didn’t work out too well for him…

Funny how the verb form of the word progress just doesn’t flow for me… it’s difficult to place the emphasis on the correct (last) syllable… as in pro (long o)-gress’ not pro’- gress.  “We have to make progress, Mark, not live in the past…”  But wait, we just spent a week in the Jurassic, so, well, yes we can!!

But seriously Mark, you are out matched here.  Some corporate interest with very deep pockets has beat you to the punch and now you are playing defense…  funny how in panel two they are carrying one what could be considered a contentious conversation, bordering on argument, both with smiles on their faces!

And for the last time Mark, what about your Carbon Footprint?  Why can’t you just pick up the damn phone and talk to these people, rather than travel over hill and dale to confront them?  Well that wouldn’t make for much of an action sequence now would it, and the Senator‘s daughter would be unknown to us, so I should just stop carping about that…

Well, Hudson, it’s no mystery how you have been able to ascend to the heights of power and stay there…  remembering even the “little people” (who barge in on your private moments) who helped you get to where you are… Once again we have the concept of “old friend.”  As in “old boy’s network.”  Don’t ask, don’t apply for membership.  It’s like waiting in line for season tickets to Lambeau… Of course damning Mark with faint praise (which goes over the Trail head I assure you) “One of the best outdoor writers in the country…” What, is there some pantheon of outdoor writers that I am unaware of?  An annual award that Mark wins every three years just to make it not seem too rigged?  Real competition?  Hm.  I wonder…

So, if Anne Marie is the Senator’s daughter, then the timeline seems a bit off…  panel one shows Senator Mason in full geezer mode, belly paunch protruding, and even though he’s sucked it in for the middle panel, he’s still much too old to be her father… Grandfather maybe.  But then there are second marriages, surprises, who knows, right?  I am a little disappointed…  I was really hoping that Senator Mason would not be the epitome of the “Old White Guy,” but then this IS Mark Trail…

And lastly, it would appear that Ann Marie’s earring is glued to her cheek.  Poor girl, her lobe may have been chewed off by the wolves that raised her…

What, are we channeling Glenn Close from Fatal Attraction?  Very late eighties feel to that do, ma’am…  or miss, or whatever you are… And what, are we in the Tapioca Lounge here?  “I’ve heard that name before—Should I know you??”   If that isn’t code for “ride me cowboy,” I don’t know what is… Maybe as a Senator’s Daughter a certain expectation to provide “comfort” to weary travelers is part of the job description…

Quite the spanky spread though.  Certainly Senator Mason Hudson or Hudson Mason or whatever his name is has been keeping himself clean of any undue influence during his decades doing the “peoples’ business.”  Or “Doing the People” as it were…

Oh how nice it is to be away from Rusty and dinosaurs and back with the goofy-ass setups that makes this so much fun!

I have often wondered about the ‘h’ that often goes into the name ‘John.’  If we don’t see the ‘h’ are we supposed to assume, what? That his given name is Jonathon?  Can we call Jonathon ‘Jack?’  Or just if the given name is John with the ‘h?’ But I certainly digress, and how could I with the Senator’s pretty daughter filling up panel two with her perfect white teeth, blonde hair and well- applied lipstick…

Mark certainly is demonstrating his right index finger targeting skills with the push of the doorbell button.  Lake house, huh?  Doesn’t fit.  Most “Lake houses” I know either have the door already open or a door knocker… but certainly not a door BELL…  And now Mark is in an olive-taupe ensemble, suitable for the North Woods, assuming that’s where the lake is.  Certainly the Senator is a nature lover himself, and certainly Mark will now have the chance to talk some sense into him about the development of the Lost Forest “Preserve.”

And Mark, I mean, why WOULD ANYONE MIND that you are stopping in, unannounced?  At least you admit to being the obnoxious boor that you are…

Mark, you are such a moron.  Seriously.  OK, get on a plane (or ride your horse for all we know…) arrive in DC, amble up to the Senator’s office, and OMG, he’s not there!!  What a shock.  The body language in the first frame is very curious.  Almost antagonistic… but then not… But clearly Trail is pissed, otherwise we would not have thrown the chair away from in from of Annie-the-Aid’s desk…

And why wouldn’t Senator Mason be at his Lake Home?  I mean it’s probably recess, right??  But Mark will do anything to get into his nice blue suit with the white shirt and red tie.  How patriotic.

Man, I thought that would never happen!  However manufactured and convoluted, the ultimate goal is to get Mark the heck out of there…  So now Mark will be traveling to DC to grapple with the forces of vested, special interests.  Does he realize that he is one himself? Or is the Conservation cause so self-evident that he need only remind Senator Mason that he “needs to do the right thing??”

I wonder if Mark can even hear Dusty in the final frame…

“What- Ol’ ‘Hud?’ Why, we go WAY BACK…” Apparently a senator is, how shall we say it?  Only as faithful as his options?  Love the name, though. The fist and surnames are interchangeable…  Mason Hudson, Hudson Mason.  I bet he has had trouble with that all his life…

And what form did your “support” take, Mr. Trail?  Knocking on doors?  Or did you dig deep and cough up the green?

Drilling on Federal Lands is all the rage, now…  gosh it’s almost like that Mormon got himself elected!  Yup, no hope for the middle class, it’s all run by the plutocrats!  More like the political, ruling elite…  I would love to have this story make a strong case for term limits, but I imagine it probably won’t go there…

Enter the Game Warden, another Ward of the State… Ever notice how the virtuous in the Trailverse are either sponging off the kindness of others (bankrupt magazines, kindly fathers in law) or have their snout planted firmly in the government trough??  And the evil types, the ones beyond redemption, are all out to make a buck, create some wealth?  We might question their motives, but they are out there , trying to rub a couple of sticks together, make a fire, get something going… yet we vilify…

Retired my ass… this guy looks like he is in his 40’s!  But of course, why wouldn’t he be retired?  Probably has put in his “hard 20” and is entitled to a full pension with medical benefits…  There’s no business that pays that well!  Go into the Service, boy!  They will take care of you as you start a whole new career before many of us consider ourselves to be middle aged…

But enough sour grapes…  Not only are there POACHERS, but good Lord–in–Heaven… SURVEYORS!  Are they public or privately funded?  What are they Surveying?  This is certainly a potentially evil twist to the story, not some throw-away line.  Some Bad Actor is looking to validate the property lines of Lost Forest!  I see a property dispute in the making!

And of course, we all know what a bunch of uncouth, unprofessional, and disrespecting louts SURVEYORS are… of course it is they who are damaging the fence lines…

Readers of Mark Trail (and I am beginning to think that there are about 6 of us…) know that Mark has a hair trigger when it comes to unleashing his Fists of Fury® in the face of imminent danger.  Nice to see that some things haven’t changed, although I was having my doubts, as the last few story lines involved the deft use of a fishing pole, a tackle from behind, and a crab kick…

What’s really odd here, almost Tarantino-esque, is that we are beginning a story line with what should be the end.  The punch that sends the bad guy packing.  But let’s also examine the evidence- No facial hair, Mark is on a first name basis, and they both enjoy the same shirt/ jacket style… clearly Ol’ Dusty here cannot be an evil-doer…  So what gives??

Oh dear… Mark has allowed himself to be put into yet another compromising position… but this is nothing new for him, he has a gun pointed at him on a fairly regular basis, it would seem odd to him if it DID NOT happen… Who is that man in the shadow’s though?  He has features that apparently do not reflect light in the normal way, looking all black and everything… Adds to the mystery, though, that’s for sure…

So now the guessing begins.  Again, there is always money on Rusty’s biological Father.  Will we ever meet him in all his corrupted glory?  And is the man alone?  How exactly does he propose to transport a 1,200 pound Bull Elk over hill and dale, mountain and stream, now that the animal has been shot?  And what does he gain by immediately playing the “false imprisonment/ kidnapping” card?  I have to admit, this story line isn’t wasting any time… In less than 3 days we have gone from supposedly scared elk running roughshod over the fence lines to Mark with a rifle pointed in his back.  Impressive…

It would appear that he was in his death throes, having been struck by a high caliber round… Damn the NRA and our American gun culture (Just kidding…)  But seriously, it’s got to be difficult to come up with new and novel story lines, other than animals being shot when and where and by whom they are not supposed to be… I mean that bit with Rod Bassy really spoiled us… Even though your faithful blogger guessed correctly at the final outcome, it was still excitement at every turn as Rusty sat tied up in the Bassy-Van for days (weeks?) while Mark and bluegill contemplated their next moves over generous portions of orange mashed root vegies… But I wax nostalgic…

Or could this be another Elk?  How many trophy animals could be within galloping distance from each other at the same time?  This is looking more like the “Fawn-doe-rosa” Petting Zoo on highway 8 near Turtle Creek…

So glad that Mark hasn’t moved into the future with a four-wheeler/ quad runner.  That would just spoil everything…  riding the range, literally, is suited to him, as is his tendency to verbalize every thought… Did you hear that Mr Elk?  Why are you so frightened??  And is there a true cause effect relationship here:  Frightened out of forest = Trashing other peoples’ property?

And even though we have seen this plot device over and over again, most recently with “Big Mike’s Gang,” there is still comfort to be had in this familiar plot line…  Quick, Mark.  Ride, fast as you can toward the sound of the rifle shot…  it’s what you do best!

And what on earth is this bull Elk up to?  Scratching its back with his prodigious rack?  “Ooh, right there… yea, that’s the spot…” I am surprised that his rear leg isn’t moving in bicycle fashion…

Or maybe it’s Elk rising!  Tired of Man’s encroachment on its natural habitat… Don’t think for a minute, Doc, Father of Cherry, whose last name remains a mystery, that your maintaining the Lost Forest “game preserve” gives you any special dispensation as it relates to over-use and spoiling of the natural spaces…  Or maybe it’s “Elk Gone Wild” or “Elk gone Bad…”  Are there any cigarette butts or empty beer bottles lying about?? That’s usually a tip off to a bad element having moved in and created a bad influence on the herd…

Of course Mark, with nothing but time on his hands (I mean why wouldn’t he pitch in and help with the fence mending?) will be off doing what Alpha/ Lone Wolves do- ride the range and look for trouble around every corner…  While Cherry gets dressed and goes into town to cover a friend’s shift cashiering at the local Wal*Mart…