…at the news that there is another person joining this excursion… and a woman at that!  I’m surprised he didn’t ask whether she was any good at cooking flapjacks and making coffee!  And what a strange question, which leads us to another vocabulary word- Speleologist.  Why wouldn’t he ask something like “What is her area of study / expertise?” At least assuming that, as Gabe’s assistant, she would be immersed in some academic pursuit.  But I suppose Mark doesn’t want to be held back by any rank amateurs, since of course he’s probably “written a few articles” about caving as well… <<snark>>

Well, now are we set up?  Can we get on with this?  Are we there yet??

…heh, heh… If you know what I mean… as two raptors duke it out over territory, or are they fighting over the lizard that ate the spider that started us down this path?

I sincerely hope this means that the ride is over… it took Mark and Mississippi Ken less time to cross two southern coastal states in the skull mobile in pursuit of the nuclear dive suit… I think this is all set up correctly now, and it’s amusing to think that Gabe is already planning to have Mark spend “days” on this story. I mean, how long does it take to tour a cave and snap a few pictures??  Gabe wants his PR machine to be held captive for a good long time in order that he wring the most out of this opportunity!

Show me the articles, Mark!  Show them to me!  So that would make you an expert on WNS, wouldn’t it?  Reminds me of my old life as a consultant- golden rules- you never are new with the company, you have always been here “a number of years,” and when bidding on a piece of work, you have always done similar work “a number of times…”  What blather!  What BS!  Sling it Mark, sling it high and hard!

Good to see in panel one that the New Mark Trail has vehicles with headrests and seat belts…  something we would never have seen in the Dodd and Elrod days…

And what is up with the Big Horn Sheep?  Talk about Out of Range!  Like the Pronghorns from yesterday (thank you James Wilk) none of these animals belong in the desert!  It’s almost like our author takes his cue from previous entries by your faithful scribe!

“Yea, good Idea Mark!  I couldn’t have thought that one up myself!!”  says Ol’ Gabe the Cave Crawler…

Well, no proposal of marriage, or anything else, just another pitch for everyone to “keep an eye on bats…” I would hazard that 99.9% of the human population never even encounters a bat, let alone a colony and wouldn’t know White Nose Syndrome if it landed on their own face… other than through the use of illegal drugs or a powdered doughnut…  I suppose that’s the reason for the article.  If this is a puff piece that will help Gabe get more funding to run his studies, that much I can understand…

We have certainly encountered an impressive array of fauna on our way to the cave.  Today we encounter some type of hooved ruminant species… that would also appear to be out of range.  No clue what they are…  Sentinel species to warn the cave dwelling bats that humans with gloved hands and lighted hard hats are approaching.

Colorful dialogue indeed… that’s what happens when two men, in close quarters, are forced to sustain a conversation- it just gets weird.  Unless they are talking sports or business, which are not topics about which either of them can lay claim to special knowledge…

So as Mark waxes on about desert sunsets, he opens a door for Gabe.  What are we doing here?  Is this going to turn into a little Brokeback Trail??

Of course I had to orient myself… if memory serves, and it can be spotty at best these days, I want to say that “Gabe” had previously announced that he is in West Texas, which, according to the map below, places him in the eastern-most edge of the Chihuahuan Desert… Which also makes me think I need to go back and scan my earlier entries as I am afraid I may have made the classic blunder of confusing desert with dessert…  Just a feeling…

With the DESERT in full bloom, and the random fox-like critter looking on, Mark and Gabe are on their way to the cave.  Thankfully we were spared the conversation Mark had with Bill Ellis, who by now is up to his neck in paperwork, trying to sort out liability over the blown-up cigarette boat, which Mark did not use to full advantage in getting the heck out of harm’s way before it was strafed full of automatic weapons fire and blown up with a flare gun…

With most of the Chihuahuan DESERT in Mexico, I can see where this is going to go- international intrigue, State Department involvement, Mark and company held at gunpoint…  you know, just another day in the life.

Boy did I get that one wrong…  They are in Texas, not Mexico…  And oh, by the way ‘Texas’ en Español is Texas.  Not Tejas, which, according to the Google translator, means “roof tiles…”  Good to know.

Gently, right?  Need to glove-up and gently “pick one off…”

Nice shot of Gabriel’s Goiter in Panel 1…  That man needs a little more iodine in his diet…  Or fewer tortillas…

…we see the colony, or cloud of bats exiting the cave to begin their evening activities…  According to my source, Cloud is shared with Flies, Gnats and Grasshoppers… while Colony is shared with Ants, Auks, Badgers, Beavers, Chinchillas, Frogs and Gulls.  My favorite remains a Murder of Crows, but a new one that draws a smile is an Intrusion of Cockroaches…

So while Carina is looking to be nominated for the Captain Obvious Award for 2015 (time is running out, you know…) we can once again marvel at her get-up… safety first, right???

OK, I admit, sometimes (more often now than in the past,) I am at a loss for what to say regarding the developing story arc…  In the days of my mother and father’s Trail, each day was like a Christmas stocking… you started at the top and just kept digging, wondering what was at the bottom…  So much bad dialogue, antiquated themes and memes… A virtual piñata, waiting to be given a good whack with the promise of goodies pouring forth…  

But here we have a random, yowling coyote, who apparently is there for no reason other than to stir up the bats??

And what exactly does a bat panic look like?  Bit of a stretch I’d say…  nothing more than that out there in the Google-verse…

But let’s study the art the panels above.  Suddenly there is more ambient light with which to work, Gabriel (in the middle panel) suddenly has blacked-out eyes, as the censors from the comics syndicate need to hide his identity, or he just has amazingly thick eyelashes…And what’s he reaching for?  A weapon to silence the coyote?  Filled with “Dead Coyote” ammunition??  I mean, how reviled does a species have to be to have a shotgun shell specifically configured and marketed to do away with said species??

And we finally get to see Carina’s face… I’d have to say… handsome?  At least she keeps her eyebrows in check and her lip liner well ordered…  guessing she picked up those frames at LensCrafters…

It would seem that Gabriel has spent his life in the depths of bat caves- his eyes are huge.  Note he has but one helmet/ headlamp for Carina, since apparently he doesn’t need one.  Sort of reminds me of the continuing saga of Bat Boy in the Weekly World News!

White Nose Syndrome…  not to get ahead of the story here, but it affects bats during hibernation, when they are holed up in their hibernaculum, plural form hibernacula, a place where animals hibernate… so given that bats probably don’t need to hibernate in Mexico, they aren’t as prone to WNS…   but I am sure the good professor knows that.

…for to study bats?  Even if English is not your first language, this doesn’t make any sense…

So let’stake stock of where we are…  Other than Meh-hee-co.  We saw a lizard eat a spider only to then be carried off by a raptor… cruel.  Then we met up with Jose and Jefe in the Cantina… sinister.  Now we have “Call me Gabriel” and Carina out in the middle of nowhere- presumably at the mouth of La Cueva de los Muertos…  creepy.  For more than one and any number of reasons…

How Mark gets entwined in this story is anyone’s guess… maybe Mark, Cherry and Rusty decide that they have been working way to hard and they decide to go on a vacation to one of those all-inclusive places…  and then decide to go on a resort-sponsored excursion…  to bat caves.  Maybe a chance to catch a dread disease and bring it back to Lost Forest… Oh the possibilities are endless!!

Well, isn’t this tremendously suspenseful…  as night races in from stage right, thoughts of “what the Hell was I thinking?” are racing trough Carina’s mind.  I love her words, though… “fearsome reputation…”  almost a foreshadowing effect on what is to come.

A check on the Cueva de los muertos reveals that this is a burial site of some repute…  where presence of children’s bones (sacrifice?) are present showing signs of “Periosteal Reaction.”  This means that there is evidence of trauma, disease or some other unnatural upset…

Well, that’s quite a lot to take in, boys and girls…  just remember, trusting in your elders can sometimes end badly!!

What, like the desert ecosystem, where humans would survive less that a day or two unless they brought in everything they need?  Like bottles and bottles of Spring Water, like the Marines in the movie Jarhead?

I can tell that Carina is already regretting her decision to go into the desert with her professor… His teachings, preachings and ministrations are already wearing thin on her…  besides, isn’t there some rule that suggests that students and their professors should not be alone, 1 on 1?  Haven’t they read the  book Lolita or seen the movie Gone Girl??

I can tell we are in for another 170+ day schlog… get comfortable, everyone…

With the palette muted in the desert, we have less to distract our eyes, so we are drawn to the riveting lecture being delivered by Gabriel.  Indicator Species?  Don’t you mean Sentinel Species?  Canary in a coal mine?  No, he’s correct… There is a difference between and indicator species and an animal sentinel.  The latter is purposely put in harm’s way to alert humans to dangers… the former signals changes in the environment in an ecosystem where they would naturally occur.  OK enough of that… my brain hurts…

Note the Desert Hare and how large the ears are… allowing the animal to dissipate heat, not to mention hearing things from literally miles away…  While we are on the desert theme, here is the Sunday edition as an added bonus:

I bet this little guy gets teased all the time…

Twice now- “Call me Gabriel” and “No, No, etc…”  Have another coffee, Professor Gabriel…  what – are you going to sound your trumpet next?  Announce the End of the World?  Beginning of the new age?  No, just talk about how eemportante bats are to our general well being etc, etc…

So, apologize all you want, horn blower, you are still a rude man.

Chiropterologist?  Really? From the fact that Bats are of the order chiroptera… the only mammals capable of flight- as opposed to falling with style…

…we have been blessedly and mercifully removed from Lost Forest and are now back in the Desert!  Good thing… no telling what Mark and Cherry were going to do next…

Enter two new Characters: Professor Gabriel (“Call me Gabriel”) Chavira and Carina, the impressionable estudiante…  In a dust-covered jeep doing who-knows-what kind of field work.

Chavira is a family name from Spain (original conquerors) and has since morphed into Chavez…

Let’s hope the Professor doesn’t let that go to his head…

Or better than??  More lucrative, anyway… According to Jose… That’s a mighty big word there… He’s clearly the brains behind this operation.

Judging by the reaction in panel two, this is not the first time the Ol’ Jefe is a little slow on the uptake…  As Jose laughs and grimaces and holds his head in pain, he calmly and collectively suggests that he has bigger plans in store, a bigger payoff…

But seriously… this is Mark Trail we are talking about.  It’s been at least two story arcs since we last had smuggling animals in the plot…  Remember the whole “My Friends call me Dirty” story?  There can be no greater foul than trafficking in poached animals and their parts… So while Jose’s idea may be more lucrative, let’s hope it’s at least as interesting as smuggling birds!!

But back to the abrupt transition away from Ken and Kelly!  What became of Kelly?  Are Mark and Ken cooling their heels in a decontamination chamber? Is Mark talking his way out of having to pay for the boat?  So many loose ends!!  Do we ever go back to Lost forest so Mark and Cherry can get their smooch on?

Eww…  sorry… shouldn’t have gone there…

Almost in the shadow of the Hacienda…  This is awesome.  Mr. Lizard becomes Hawk bait even before he can begin to digest the Spider…

“So, Jose… Why have you asked me to meet you here?”

“Ah, Jefe, Mee Ameego,  would you be eenterested in makeeng some queek money??”  I can imagine Jose saying/sounding like…

OK I’ll get into trouble for that one, but let’s see how racially sensitive (or not) this story line becomes…  Immediately conjuring up images of Breaking Bad…  Cooking meth in the desert…

It’s clear enough now how James Allen likes to start his story lines and transition between story lines – with Adrian Peterson-Quality Jump-cuts to new locales involving animals eating other animals…  witness the Octopus eating crab sequence at the beginning the radioactive shark story line… and here we have Lizard eating Spider with whatever might follow…

But lo! What doth cast such a mean shadow on the eater-of-spiders?  Man? Beast? Is there a difference?  Maybe it’s Bear Grylls of TV fame showing us how to survive in the Desert…