in which we discover who is milton's favorite

On a recent long weekend in Moab, the three of us went out to the Moab Brand trails.  It was a gorgeous but chilly morning and since we had the Subaru (with no bike rack), H was going to MTB while the dog and I walked.  As soon as we pulled into the lot, Milton and I headed out for our usual winter walk loop: the parking lot cutoff over Copper Ridge, then right onto Bar M to Circle O.  H's route was the front side of Lazy EZ, to Rusty Sput, to Bar M and then right out to the Arches NP overlook on the Bar B doubletrack, back on the doubletrack and north on Bar M, cutoff to the back half of Lazy EZ, right onto the parking lot cutoff and left onto Bar M and then out onto Circle O to try to meet us.

Sun's out, tongues out

These diverging routes were good because whenever Milton sees H on his MTB, he wants to go with him: I have to keep him on the leash - and he pulls SO HARD - until he's distracted by a bird or a lizard or a rabbit and forgets that he wants to catch H.

We saw three MTBers out on Circle O. Milt takes a good look and then, once he's determined they're not H, keeps on doing what he's doing.  We found several potholes still full of water from rain earlier in the week and he plunged right in, drinking and wading and ducking his head under the water.

As we were finishing up at the last and biggest pothole (with maybe a quarter of the Circle O trail left to do?), H texted me, asking if we were still out there.  He'd come out to a tricky section and didn't feel like hike-a-biking, so he said he'd turn around there and keep going to finish the Bar M loop.  About thirty seconds later, Milton and I crested a rise to where we could see H, about a quarter-mile away.  Milton stopped and stared for several seconds, long enough for him to decide that the MTBer in the distance was, in fact, H.  And then that darn dog took off, faster than I could call him back (and I don't know if he would have paid attention to me anyway), sprinting to chase H down, hurtling over rocks and gaps and cacti.  I quickly texted H:  He sees you.  He's coming.  And then just moments later, H texted me back: He found me - I'll keep him.  And just like that, I'd been abandoned by my dog.

Almost deep enough to swim

We all got back to the car at the same time: I could see them coming down the road, H going slower than his normal speed and Milton locked into his ground-eating fast trot, trying to keep just ahead of the bike.  He was quite tired but rallied enough for biscuits and to make friends with some of the other dogs hanging around in the parking (mixes Freddie, Fonzie and Goldie next to us; and also griffon Annie and the very cute Australian cattledog Toast).