Good Heavens, girl…  put the goblet down and put some clothes on!  Your skin is now more alabaster than ever before… and your suit has turned an even brighter shade of pink!!  And assuming that it’s now the next morning, with the sun properly rising in the east through the morning fog, what are you doing with a drink in your hand anyway?!?

The bird in the first panel, staring open-mouthed, is sufficiently agog with Cherry’s lack of decorum, and has decided to fly in for a closer look…  Cherry, you are such a lush…  who knew??

Wow… tension so thick you could cut it with a knife.  For a couple of days…

Note the gender neutral use of the pronoun “its…”  as in “Its next meal…”  I guess in all the excitement Mark was unable to positively ID the gender.  Check for boy-shark parts…  The so-called “Claspers…”  I am a little disappointed.  Usually Mark Trail fits a nature lesson in where- and whenever he can… Such as the fact that the Bull Shark is endangered, having a status of “NT” or “Near Threatened,” the smallest rating being LC for “Least Concern…”  Implying that all animals are potentially threatened so long as man continues to inhabit the earth…

That is one sad looking fish…  knowing that it’s about to become a meal…  sort of flies in the face of the whole “fish are not sentient creatures” argument …

Once again, though, Mark leads the charmed life.  He doesn’t have the slightest clue that most people cannot be quite so cavalier and come away unscathed…

Who exactly are you channeling, Mark?  Jeff Spicoli?  And Mark, Really?  You’d know what species, what genus, as the large shark-like creature brushes by you?

I love the look on the face of the Striped Bass… Eyes wide…  As if it knows that it’s about to become a snack for the shark!

Oh, Mark.  That Striped Bass sure is pretty, but that BULL SHARK is right on your flank…  According to the Wiki, the Bull Shark is known for its aggressive nature, predilection for warm shallow water, and presence in brackish and freshwater systems including estuaries and rivers.  And in case any of you want to see what a Bull shark is capable of, follow this Link.  Yikes.  They are responsible for the majority of near-shore shark attacks, including many attacks attributed to other species.

So while Cherry suns herself on deck, Mark is once again putting himself in danger, this time in a very unforgiving environment with no trees to climb…

Can you just hear the music building?? Daaa-dum, Daa-dum, Da-dum, da-dum, da-dum….

Unless his swim trunks are flesh colored…

“OK, Honey,” he says to his gal, now resplendent in her two piece, having removed her spf45 cover-up…  Are we to believe that yesterday’s “drifting lazily” is code for… oh, perish the thought!

Brackish waters, huh?  That sounds ominous…  No buddy system here as Mark heads off into the murky depths of the well-traveled shipping lane…

All we’ve seen so far is his bare torso… no trunks!  And what do you suppose Mark will find underwater?  This is Elizabeth city after all…  But here’s an evil idea… When Mark goes overboard, pull in the ladder and make him promise things in order to let him back on board!!  If there’s one thing we have learned from the movies, is that it’s impossible to get back on board a yacht without a ladder…

And yes, the king of odd gestures is at it again…  Is he looking at Cherry to “give him five?”  Shake his hand?  What exactly are you doing, Mark?

Are we to believe that Cherry Trail, in her sheer pink cover-up, is holding the line that secures the jib with one hand?  Let’s hope that Mark, off camera stage left, has the rope secured around the winch, otherwise this picture makes no sense at all… And enough with the Honey’s already!!

They do lead exciting lives, don’t they?  So let’s just back off a bit and allow them a few moments of fun- no doubt danger and anger await them in the swamp!!

What? No ‘Sweetie,’ no ‘Lamb Chop?’  If it’s not creepy enough “looking in” on Mark and Cherry aboard the “nice boat” that Bill rented for them to use, it’s listening to them exchange terms of endearment…  and looking at Mark (with bare bodkin) and Cherry (with the sensible cover-up…) make ready to hoist a sail.  Of course this boat could be all push-button for all we know…  no winches and pulleys for the Trails…

As much as I am curious about spaces below-decks, I sincerely hope we don’t go there…

Bill, you crack me up…  What, did you grow up with the Kennedy clan?  Summer in Hyannis?  That’s 80 feet of waterline, if it’s a foot…  I mean, one can hardly make out the figures on board this massive craft.  I hope the Army Corp of Engineers has kept up with their dredging schedule…  Otherwise the keel’s going to be scraping bottom in the canals.  But then I suppose, as part of the Intercoastal Waterway, these types of craft are not infrequent…  as the 1%er’s migrate north to south and back with the seasons.  “It’s Fall, Muffy, we best get our beloved ‘Poverty Sux’ out of Newport and down to the Caymans…”  Either this boat comes with a crew, or we may never see it under sail…  Or (and probably, of course) Mark is also expert at sailing (with limited crew) ketch-rigged watercraft…

So yes, the CEO of Riverway (nee PETROXX) Chemical will likely be quite impressed with this rig, that is if he’s into this type of thing…

And Mark Trail is your pearl…  or something like that.  Girl, you need to get out more.  What is it you do exactly while Mark is off on assignment?  What is it about your past that determines your present and future?  We could use a few Lost-style flashback sequences to help us better understand what we see unfold in the panels day by day…  a few more thought balloons to reveal what is being thought when Mark says, “Well, pack your bags, honey …” The look on cherry’s face (if that IS Cherry- something’s wrong about her…) suggests thoughts along the lines of, “Keep smiling, keep smiling, this has to end at some point…”

Well, I for one am looking forward to seeing the boat!!  And miles and miles of slow motoring up mosquito and alligator infested canals and ditches…  What fun!!

While the rest of the Eco-Enviro-free world is trying to figure out how to get Justin Holland alone to string him up by his money-belt, Mark is scheming mightily figuring out how to lure him onto the “nice” boat that Bill is arranging for the trip…  Got news for you, Mark.  He probably already has a boat, licensed in the Caymans, and your little floating shack ain’t gonna do squat to impress…

But really, we have to hand it to James Allen…  he rewards those who Google!  Justin Holland, our would-be adversary, is the namesake of an American classical guitarist, a music teacher, a community leader, a black man who worked with white people to help slaves on the Underground Railroad, and an activist for equal rights for African Americans.  Of rather historical significance, I’d say!!  And apropos to the spot where this story will (hopefully?  finally?) go down…

I’m not even going to comment on the moose, other than to say look out, there’s a Bull on a rampage from the other day!

The phrase “…some sort of Historical significance…” will now cause me to return to the Google and look that one up…  George Washington, First Man-made Waterway, Source of Timber, Part of the Underground Railroad, Served as an inland shipping route during wars in 1812 and WII…  But what I am mostly interested in is the name…  I found a brief, one-sentence reference in the Encyclopedia Britannica “The name ‘Great Dismal’ was given by Colonel William Byrd of Virginia, who surveyed the region in 1728.”  I guess the Colonel wasn’t happy in his work, or something…

And now onto the grammar lesson for today…  ever wonder about ‘historic’ vs. ‘historical’?

According to Grammarist:

Historic: 1. momentous; 2. historically significant.

Historical: 1. of or relating to history; 2. of or relating to the past. 

Buildings, villages, districts, and landmarks deemed historically important are often described as historic because they are historically significant in addition to being of or related to history. Societies dedicated to recognizing and preserving these things are called historical societies because they are concerned with history but not momentous in themselves. 

So… I guess the word you are searching for there, Mark, is historic…

How long will we have to watch the Trails in their natural habitat before we get to the boat and begin the trip? (remember- Elizabeth City…)  According to the Wiki, EC was named after Queen Elizabeth I of England or Elizabeth “Betsy” Tooley, a local tavern proprietress…  I favor the latter and is the “cultural, economic and educational hub of the sixteen-county Historic Albemarle region of northeastern North Carolina.”  But c’mon… with apologies to all the Tarheels out there, this is North Carolina we are talking about…  But what fun and scenic splendor await Mark and Cherry- cruising up the canal in the boat that Bill has arranged…

Meanwhile, Moose run wild through Lost Forest…  Chasing or being chased?  No matter, it’s all in a day where the sun never sets… on Mark Trail.

Notice how, from yesterday, Mark’s face turns from emanating its own light to revealing a lock-jawed grimace…  That sound… that SOUND… coming from what?  Who?  Rusty!  “A swamp? With Alligators and Snakes? Oh boy!”  Oh no!  Tell me it won’t or can’t be…  Will Rusty come along on this trip to the Swamp?  But of course the possibilities are then endless, and we can introduce kidnapping…  by SWAMP PEOPLE!  OK, maybe this wouldn’t be so bad.  Cherry can write him a note to get him out of sch… oh wait that’s right, Rusty is obviously home-schooled, since there has never been mention of him going to a public or private institution of lower learning.

And Mark, regarding Riverway’s “Safety Record,”  are you relying on your encyclopedic memory of all things environmental, or just believing the last feel-good sponsorship piece you saw on PBS?  Although notice the ellipse after he utters the name, “Riverway Chemical…” almost as is one can feel the foreboding, the tension that this will bring…

On a separate but related topic, here’s an atlas update…  I remain interested (obsessed?) regarding the Trail’s itinerary and continued to zoom in on the map to reveal a series of long, straight canals that head generally north from Elizabeth City.  Clearly man made, they intersect with various rivers and other naturally flowing bodies of water, only to be met by a series of east-west “ditches,” the likely useful one called, “Feeder Ditch” not to be confused with “Paw-Paw Ditch” or “Myrtle Ditch.”  Then it’s onto Lake Drummond!

Mark, you are such a smooth hombre!  “Honey!  Guess what??  That vacation you have been wanting to take?  Well it just happens that my ‘job’ will be taking me to the <wait for it…> the GREAT DISMAL SWAMP!!  And you get to go!  Can you stand it???  Go pack your bag!”

In panel one Cherry looks to be either on the verge of tears or of throwing up…  only to be greatly relieved in the end, spouting non-sequitur thoughts…  “I can work on my tan?”  What kind of nonsense is that??  There isn’t enough melanin in your skin to do anything other than burn and peel, burn and peel… and didn’t you get the memo that the ozone layer has depleted and skin cancer is the number one cause of death?  At least in Australia??

Wow!  This IS a new world!  Mark and Cherry heading off on a “relaxing assignment” together!  What about Kelly Welly who makes a habit of trying to scoop and seduce Mark?  She shows up now and she will get a bitch-slap from Dr. Davis’ Daughter!!  And what about Rusty?  Does he get to stay with Doc?  You know, the old guy didn’t sign up for this… but then he’s probably happiest when assigning Rusty all the chores around Lost Forest- repositioning the septic field, mending fence-line…

And the CEO of Riverway is a man?  How disappointing!!  That he “sounds like a reasonable man” based on “what <you’ve> read” is only the PR campaign working…  we all know that anyone who makes a living (gets rich, even…) extracting resources from Mother can ONLY BE EVIL…

And do you think that James Allen might be reading this blog?  Otherwise, why would Bill Ellis go into detail about how a boat would be useful in going from Elizabeth City to the Great Dismal?

What makes me think so?  Because we have been here before…  Senators and congressmen are always male and have innocent daughters caught up in the fray, but when BIG BUSINESS is involved, the glass ceiling gets shattered!  Mark will find his way right to the top and use his will and his wiles to convince an otherwise profit seeking person head of a conglomerate with shareholders to serve to instead serve a greater cause!  Sorry for the spoiler, but I think that’s how this is going to all unfold.  This will take anywhere from 60-75 days…

And I think I just cracked the diversity code in the Trailverse!  It’s acknowledged in the wildlife and the diversity of species- but of course all bird and fish and mammal stick with their own kind…  is that the underlying message here??

Bless you Bill Ellis!  Let’s get rolling!!  Without all the “It’s OK, Mark, I know this is your job” crap…

BUT WAIT— A MYSTERY (added 10/31/2014)

Notice how, at one point, the company’s name was PETROXX Chemical! What evil thought-policing entity forced this change??