Thank you for spending some of your time reading these blogs about Mark Trail, the legacy “adventure” strip where the adventure is sometimes either pondering “What would Mark do?” or just bringing yourself to read the daily panels. Clearly, I enjoy writing these blogs, though I’m not always sure why. My predecessor, Dennis, once claimed (I think) that he posted blogs for his first three years without knowing whether he had any readers. Now that is dedication, or extreme Trailheadedness. I’ll likely continue—as I can—until I’m turned out, my brain turns to mush, or the strip takes that final turn towards retirement. To be clear, I’d prefer to see most legacy strips retired to make room for new ones; some, more than others. Many legacy strips have been republished in book form, so that should be good enough. Interestingly, that is not the case for Mark Trail.

Anyway, The Daily Trail will catch up with Mark on Boxing Day with a double-feature. Until then, whether you celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Zartosht No-Diso, Mongolian Independence Day, or just want to sleep in, make it a great day. We all should have at least one a year.

You know you have reached a certain amount of notoriety when you are asked to be a “Guest Jumbler…” Well played, Ms. Rivera!

I’ll be on the road for a few days, driving back from Virginia to Minnesota and hoping to avoid the current week’s rainstorms and snowfalls tracking across the midlands. That also means I may also wind up posting several days at one time, which has its own benefits.

Because of prior commitments, I will not be able to post the Sunday blog until Sunday afternoon. Please enjoy your new-found free time to sleep in; attend the religious service of your inclination; mow the lawn; or finish reading that book before it has to go back to the library. You know which one I’m talking about.

Or, you can while away the time looking at this field of dots. Some people think that if you look at it hard and long enough, you will see the ancient Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus in Rome. Other people think that prolonged viewing will just give you a headache. Personally, I think this could be one of the game sheets for the Tokyo Olympics “Connect the Dots” finals (won by the team from Djibouti). Well, you’ve got some time on your hands to figure it out.

But fear not, Faithful Readers: Mark Trail will soon return!

Sorry, dear readers, but I have some morning business. That means my Mark Trail post for June 22 will not get up until around Noon, Central Time.

Thanks again, George K. Atkins, Contributor in Chief… With a bit of time on my hands, I visited Jules’ site and found some extras!

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Next I found a Sunday feature that I don’t think was/ has been published? How did I miss this one? Was it ever published?

But wait, there’s more!! including this lovely reaction to all the hate being heaped upon Jules for “Ruining Mark Trail…”

Or, not to neglect the fact the Jules is checking in on The Daily Trail… Hats off to (CIC) George K. Atkins for pulling a reference out of his, ahem… impressive trove of experiences… only to make a very solid impression with Mark’s new “Daddy…”

OMG I got compared to Carl Hiaasen I can die now everyone

Carl Hiaasen was the only author I read in high school I actually liked. I appreciated that he understood how totally slanted and sideways the world really is.

Originally tweeted by Jules Rivera (@julesrivera) on April 15, 2021.

Welcome to George, the DAILY Trail’s most ardent and faithful follower and now contributor! Had I know it was so easy to add different roles, this would have happened sooner. Yes, there are many demands on my time these days, but that’s a good problem to have! More than that, however, was the desire to take a position on the other side! Thanks George, and well done with your first post… remember, it’s a marathon and not a sprint!!

I will add, however, that this is not the first time we have met up with the Beaver… Witness…

That, and El Chapo’s Hippo Collection!

But we are finally home! Let’s see, we started on this new odyssey October 13th… and it’s now March 2nd, a new year, and that makes it an even 140 days! Yikes!! That’s James Allen territory, but at least not in line with the cave adventure…

Good Dog Daddy! That picture of Andy in panel 3 is, well, a little off-putting! At least he returns to St. Bernard in panel 4. Let’s hope Mark can get a shave and a shower, and heal a bit. The Article! An Article must be written!! And with the magic of the comics page, we skip over that toil, and behold:

Words heal, campers. Confession is good for the soul. Never too late to redeem oneself!

Meanwhile, Jolly and his daughter, who happens to be an attorney, plead their case about the “taking” and discrimination vis-à-vis their land…

Ha! Plot thickens! You are a mean old chiseler, Happy Trail! Admit it!

Apparently Mark want nothing to do with what is going on right now, even though it’s the reason for his being there- to write an article…

But what Mark does determine causes Happy to go all zombie in the eyes… and admit that he is mean and alone in this world…

Like I said, Mark and Happy must not talk much… A lot of water under the bridge, so to speak, and years of not seeing each other… could this be the beginning? Maybe even the end of this little yarn? Nice (O)possum!

Rusty swimming alone, Cherry hanging out in a casino, Mark leaving “Trails” of destruction, Cherry battling (literally) her family demons…

I predict that we will be learning about Owls this Sunday…

…and the color commentary…

“He’s burst through the line, and into the second level!”

                                “Yes, Jim, that was a tremendous hole opened up by superior blocking on the part of the center and left guard!”

“He’s Still going, only one player to beat!  Touchdown!”

Happy Superbowl everyone!  I am guessing that 80% of the population in the Twin Cities will be happy when this circus has moved on…  and for those who may have missed it, or aren’t one with “The Cities,” a local brewing company has done yeoman’s work in describing the zeitgeist…

While this is a finely drawn Rhinoceros, it would have to pivot hard to port if the tent was going to get it…  But that would require that the Rhino be drawn in reverse 3/4 profile, as opposed to full profile, which we see in this single, large panel…  I don’t know if Rhinos are built to make NFL running back style jump-cuts or not… they seem more like Downhill Runners…

And while Shannon and Kathy appear to be spared for now, we have to wonder if we got to know their names only for the purpose of demonstrating yet another unlikely encounter with a non-indigenous beast?  That’s a lot of Purple ink to spill for not much of a career in the Trailverse.

Are you my Mother?!  Nope!  Snort!

I am a Rhino, half blind and confused as all get-out… Shannon is from the Mark Trail School of the Obvious…  Run, Kathy, RUN!!

Or…  Just doing what Rhinos do?  And this is not the only animal that has had it out for trees… Remember the Wild Boar on Abbey Island?  Or, with its horn is still intact… could it be a refugee from the first time we encountered Dirty Dyer?

So as Shannon wins the “Name THAT Animal” prize, we are left to wonder, “What circus ever had a Rhino in its menagerie?”  Seems a little off… by about half a bubble…  Well drawn though, I am focused on the skin, which reminds me of one of my favorite “Just So Stories” from Rudyard Kipling- How the Rhinoceros Got His Skin…  There is a wonderful audio/video version read by Jack Nicholas (Score by Bobby McFerrin.)  I think I enjoyed that more than my daughter back when she was a tike…

As we rejoin our hipster couple, whose idea of outfitting themselves for camping is to visit the local version of Ragstock for clothes and raid their grandparents’ garage for gear, I am again wanting to comment on Kathy… not to be mean (OK, Maybe…) but it looks like her face has been reconstructed… like she made a bad choice and got too friendly with a chimpanzee and it reverted to its territorial instincts…

Today we learn the man’s name is Shannon.  Irish, I think, and probably not uncommon there.  River Shannon.  Means Old and Wise.  Of song fame “Shannon is going away. She’s drifting out to sea…” That one was about a dog, I think.

But soft!  What through yonder forest breaks?!  And Kathy utters the complete “What in the World!?”  as opposed to the time honored “What Th-!?”  Clearly not of the Trailverse is she…

OOOOOO-K…  What do we have here?  Kathy with a ‘K’ and currently unnamed dude with a bad dye-job from top to bottom (I mean, who has hair that black??) are camping near Lost Forest.  Let’s hope it not in Lost Forest, because that would be against the rules!

So… are we to gather from this piece of dialogue that Goatee-man (or Goat-man, for short) is not only style-stuck in the 90’s, with his shirt-and-sweater-vest combo, but wasn’t really “down” with the whole camping thing…  And Kathy, who spends days chained to her workstation grinding out appliances and bridges, needed a well deserved break? Got news for you sweetheart, that technical degree you earned that put you into that career is currently being made obsolete through robotics and technology.  Let’s hope you have your student loans paid off!

And do you have permission?  Is Johnny a member of the tribe in good standing?  Do we need to be contacting the the Bureau of Indian Affairs?  Boy there’s an agency name that needs changing…

I swear we spend more time taking about what we are going to do than the time it would take to just do it…  And I sure hope that ring-tailed-whatever-it-is gets a meal out of this…

But finally, someone on the comics page is tackling the Space-time dilemma!

(Arlo and Janis, 3-16-2017)

No, not “hash-tag 200” but rather I just threw up my 200th post for this blog.  And still I have not garnered a single fan.  Granted, I have done nothing to “put myself out there,” and really, I do this for the enjoyment of a small audience that I know follows this idiocy…

It’s become part of my daily routine, so as long as Elrod and Co. continue to grace the page, I will be here snarking away.

Have a Mark Trail day, everyone!