In her moment of fight or flight, and clearly she’s fleeing, Carina reverts to formalities, not a minute after she announces to ‘Gabe’ that she will be fetching and toting instruments stowed in her car.  Wait- Her car?? I thought Gabe and Carina had driven out to the desert together in the jeep?   Presumably his jeep since he’s el Profesor, and she’s el Asistente…

Love the hand gesture in panel 2 – as if there’s another woman named Carina on premises…  “uh, yea, that one, over my right shoulder.”  And so she flees, cortisol driving her athletic legs toward what?  Oh, I know, those rocks dead ahead of her.  She’s sure to trip and fall- that’s what women do in the Trailverse…  But wait- coyotes?  What kind of coyotes?  I can only assume the four legged variety- canis latrans – Or is it Jose and Jefe to whom she refers??

Ha!  I knew it!  (forgive the smugness, boys and girls…)

Merchandise… such a grand euphemism for desperate human beings…  On a serious note, what is up with a world that is probably seeing the greatest level of voluntary, bordering on forced, migration in the history of the planet?  Consider, though, our planet’s population- approaching what?  7.4 billion?  And the United States has a lousy 322 million or 4.6% of that?  And Canada’s population of 35 million (less than California)? No wonder people are (literally) killing themselves to get here… How about for the elbow room, if nothing else?  And with world climate changing, man-made or otherwise, the breadbasket is going to move north anyway…  the United States and all of North America continues to be seen as a land of opportunity.  Who are we to judge these two “bad guys” who merely represent links in the supply chain?  Providers of a service?    Of course we now know that Jose and Jefe are Coyotaje or “Coyotes” in the current day situation that seems to (?) encourage (??) this enterprise… Boy it’s hard to stay neutral on this one…

But it’s clear that these guys are not running Carnival Cruise excursion here…  between the sinister sneer in panel 1, the 8-cell Maglight beam being shined in the faces of the “cargo” in panel three, and an ominous CLATCH sound heralding the unveiling, this is getting pretty intense!!

Exactly what business are you referring to Jose?  Oh the suspense is killing me.  Not really, but hey, we have to make this as exciting as we can…  And this still doesn’t make any sense- Jose seems to be the mastermind behind all this- defining the business model, calling the shots, handing out Bundles of Benjamins…  Jefe appears to be all in, but nonetheless along for the ride.  Jefe in Spanish means boss, el Queso Grande, the Big Cheese… Jose might as well be, well, Joe… as in Average Joe…

Do they switch trucks now?  Does Jose head south with an empty cargo box while Jefe is left to run the gauntlet with Customs and the Border Patrol?  Encounter a bunch of Angry Texans fixing to sue the Gub-mint over immigration policies?   I know I am getting ahead of myself here, so I guess we will just have to wait…

Jose doesn’t image that “they” will run into any trouble that far out in the middle of nowhere?  Who’s the we, Kemosabe?  You and your gun?  You and your cargo?  Look at that assault weapon- AK-47?  Extra large magazine?  Holy Crap.  We learned yesterday that El Chapo, Mexican Drug Kingpin and subject of Sean Penn’s interview, held in his arsenal weapons that could be tied to the United States ATF  Fast and Furious sting operation that allowed weapons to fall into the hands of bad guys who subsequently killed American agents…

Boy… the mind races with this one.  Let’s hope (or not) that Mark doesn’t cross paths with this Bandito…

That has to be it!!  No give-aways here…  that panel truck must be filled with a cargo full of hope and desperation…  Well, if that’s the case, then this is worse than, better than, more interesting than poaching and smuggling exotic birds!  And note how, in the title, the English language and all its silly rules and exceptions to pronunciation force us to place a ‘k’ after the ‘c’ in the word trafficking…  that’s one word that will never look quite right, but looks and sounds even worse without it!

I wonder though, what defines poaching?  Taking game out of season?  If so, what is the season, in Wisconsin, for this critter?  And what, I wonder, is the penalty for not only poaching, but humiliating what’s been poached??

Found this beauty at the Petenwell Pub in Adams County, WI!  I wonder who had the good taste to put a hat on her and have her post sentry over the bar?  Best Pizza in town, everyone!!

The look on their faces in panel two is funny- along with their gestures- as in, “What the Hell, man, we were just introducing ourselves…  So chill out, General Franco, you’re not the boss of me…”  Well, maybe he is the boss of Carina, but he certainly can’t take that tone with Mark.  And what’s he pulling out of the bag?  a picture frame??

The look in the last panel- what are we going for here?  Mischievous?  Certainly not evil, since ‘Gabe’ has already been vouched for… But in the Old Trail, we would recognize all the markers of a bad guy- least of which is not the facial hair.  Recall that Mark has none- at least I can’t remember him ever sporting any stubble, not even when kidnapped and dragged out into the wilderness against his will…

After a stunning weekend in the Dairy State and an extra day added to the weekend, I am doing my morning routine at night, which will make this already shortened work week seem even more disjointed…  and the dialogue today doesn’t help that feeling of disorientation…   I don’t know that the objective of research is to go to a specific place, one that is farthest from the city, but rather the place is found that will support the research…  whatever.

Let’s get a move on here, guys… enough with the set-up already…

…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.