In a word, the ride was rough. Red Dog, my trusty and well used 1998 Ford F-150 had lately been getting harder and harder start, it took more effort to turn over. I feared the end of the line.
I managed to get her to Andy’s Transmission in Moose Jaw, a trusty mechanic who previously fixed a sensor issue that had stumped the local Ford dealer. I got “the call” they had tried new spark plugs, new fuel filter, but reported that the engine was pretty much shot, it needed major work on the valves. When I got to the shop, it took three of the workers there to get it started, one at the wheel, one spraying fluid into the engine, and one to point and send orders.
We drove back to our acreage on the gravel back roads, so I could go slow. Mostly she moved along, but as I headed up a very slight rise half a mile from home I could feel the power fading. I just hoped she had enough to get in the driveway, but we did, and parked it there November 12, 2025.
The last odometer reading was 212,718 miles, making for a total over 15 years of 131,023 miles and adventures. In what will most likely be a long rambling memory post, I draw upon my spreadsheet of logging service and repairs, quite a few tagged flickr photos, blog posts, but mostly my own memory bank.
The first ride in Red Dog (which did not even have a name then) purchased July 14, 2010 from Chapman Chevrolet in Payson, Arizpna, was smooooooother. The reason for getting this truck had something to do with kayaks.
July 17, 2010 (87,240 miles) A Kayak Holder
At thus time I was driving a very handy and gas friendly Mitsubishi Lancer, which did well for my many trips from home in Strawberry Arizona for my then frequent travel out of Phoenix Shy Harbor Airport. I had bought a few years earlier a kayak for using on the Mogollon Rim Country Lakes, as well as ones near Flagstaff, and a few trips to Phoenix for going out on the reservoirs there. The kayak was fairly easy to load on its rooftop racks.
A friend who was moving offered me another kayak, one with better handling and some storage, so now I had two. In anticipating of my sister Judy coming for a visit, I wanted to take her kayaking, but my car could only handle one. It seemed time to consider getting a truck, for that reason as well for being more versatile in National Forest open camping and also holding stuff.
Besides trucks are cool. Way back when as a grad student in Geology, I bought a baby truck, a blue Chevy S-10 for going back and forth from Phoenix to my field work area near Bishop, California.
I was looking for something with more muscle.
I did perusing of ads and maybe Craigs List for local sales, but to be honest, I am not that good a mechanical judge when looking at them. Late one night in July 2010, just for grins, I looked up the web site for a local dealer in Payson, Chapman Chevrolet, and I spotted a Red Ford F-150 for sale at a price I had the cash for. See how I am for keeping stuff? I still have the receipt and my Arizona title.
On July 10, I set up a test drive, and it was truck love at first drive. It had power (V8), four wheel drive, and an extra long bed, good for loading the kayaks Maybe the only lack was not much storage inside the cab. It had 88, 695 miles on it, supposedly used by people to pull a camper. I bought it July 14,
Thus our story starts. Here the truck is (it had no name then) 3 days loaded with my two kayaks (the smaller kayak fit completely inside the bed). You can see it still has temporary tags.
And rather than Judy and I having to take turns kayaking with the old setup, we got to go out on the water together.
From then on, the truck was mostly my vehicle for doing stuff around the Arizona Rim Country, I am pretty sure I got the call from a friend in Payson (you know the saying about people knowing you are as a truck friend) to help move a refrigerator. My Mom came for her annual Thanksgiving visit and she asked for a stool to help her climb in the front seat.
I did splurge and go for the vanity COGDOG plates.,
Into the end of 2010 and blasting into 2011 I was doing lots of travel, using the Mitsubishi for airport trips. It was a bit over the top for one person to have two vehicles, but they were both paid for. Plans were in motion though, with March 2011 being my last day of work for the New Media Consortium and my plan for a self-made sabbatical and a long road trip I coined “The Odyssey” that started June 23.
But significantly, before then, I believe May 2011, it was a great fortunate that Jim Groom got a speaking invite at Glendale Community College, and he made arrangements to stay longer for a visit with me in Strawberry and we fit in a road trip to the Grand Canyon.
I vividly remember our conversation on the drive back, after leaving Flagstaff and driving the twisty highway 87 at night back to Strawberry. It was then Jim and I were talking about my travel plans, and he said something like, “This red truck needs a name! Something like Red Dog”- and so it was, that the red Ford F-150 had a moniker that stuck.
A significant moment in the winter of 2011. Believe it or not, there are places in Arizona like where I lived that got good bouts of heavy snowfall. With the Mitsubishi, one of those big storms required a bit of shovelling to get out of the driveway, especially as the early local plows would pile it up even higher.
But with The Truck, I got to wondering how it would do backing out in 4-wheel drive through the snow. It went through like it was butter, and I never had to shovel my way out again.
Winning!
To do this extra long trip, I got a camper shell to put on Red Dog, so now she had a big shell on her back. Shiny and red too!
I always preferred having an open bed, but for a year’s worth of road travel, storage was needed. This was the back of Red Dog the night before my trip started, and I had not even loaded in my road bike.
Road Supplies flickr photo by cogdogblog shared under a Creative Commons (BY 2.0) license
June 23, 2011 (97,920 miles) The Odyssey
This post is already too long and I’m only a year into Red Dog’s story! That trip that went through November 18, 2011 and added on 15000 miles is already well documented in 95 blog posts, almost 2400 flickr photos, and a google map that includes all stops registered by Red Dog’s odometer.
As I was no longer on a regulat paycheck, I downsized the auto fleet and sold the Mitsubishi to a friend’s daughter.
If I had to pick a few, a key point on a highway in southern Idaho was watching as Red Dog flipped its odometer past 100000 (actually there is a video of the flip happening).
I lack the photo, but after taking a ferry from Port Angeles Washington to Sidney BC, I had to go through Canadian customs. It was almost end of the day, and I tried to be patient as they emptied every single item out of the back of Red Dog, and inspected my boxes. I had no contraband, but still it was un-nerving.
For some foreshadowing, here I am revelling the scenery of southern Saskatchewan, with a stop in Moose Jaw to visit Dean Shareski (who was kind to notice my typo)
On the stop heading down the east coast of the US, I saw my family in Baltimore. My sister Harriet decided I needed a Red Dog mascot to travel in Red Dog the truck (I still have the mascot).
I closed the 15000 mile loop November 18, returning to Strawberry, Arizona, here a photo on that last day’s drive.
I was there maybe 3 weeks before heading out to Melbourne, Australia (Red Dog rested at home)
January 27, 2012 (~116000 miles) Fredericksburg Ho
Like the venerable, rolling stone, Red Dog was loaded up full in Janaury for a cross country move to Fredericksburg, Virginia, where I started a new position with the DTLT team at University of Mary Washington, yes, Jim Groom was my BOSS. I packed the truck this time with more stuff, including a kayak (?)
Again, lots to the story, but in November, 2012, Red Dog was loaded again, moving back to Strawberry. After all this travel for the 2011 Odyssey and a move to Virginia and back, I had zero road encounters with wildlife, including in 2012, a late night drive across highway 260 in Arizona which is notorious for elk on the highway.
A week after returning to Arizona, I had gone for dinner with friends in Phoenix, and driving back to my house slowly through the Strawberry neighborhood, I came around the corner and saw three elk standing in the road. I stopped. They looked up. And one of them walked toward Red Dog, put his head down, and butted the front of the truck! I thought this was just a funny story, but the next morning when I went outside, I noticed I had a memento of this elk encounter.
Out and About Strawberry Years 2012-2014 (130967 miles)
This post is already a rambling giant hemorrhaging post, and I have like 12 more years to cover. See, I am not one of those hip modern bloggers who craft their posts meticulously by having GenAI help organize their thoughts. Here you get my flawed, unstructured, human spouting of — oops, that’s another post.
After returning to Arizona with a mind to stay, the camper shell was not needed. I sold it to a young couple through a Craigs List ad. To make up for lack of storage, and it also looked good, I bought and installed a truck box for tools and stuff.
Okay, so there were lots of camping trips around Arizona especially Rim Country, New Mexico, Colorado, California. The kayak was frequently loaded and used in various lakes (favoirite close was Willow Springs Lake). Once I was driving north on highway 87 and spotted a car coming down in the other lane with roof mounted camera contraption. I waved, so me and Red Dog are semi-immortalized in Google Street View.
My neighbor friend Leo and I drove our trucks into the forest and he taught me all about chainsawing downed trees for firewood. Various projects needing loads of lumber, stone, dirt, gravel, Red Dog did it.
October 2014 (148607 miles) 5 Months in Kamloops
It was time again for an extended time away afforded by the fantastic opportunity organized by Brian Lamb and Irwin Devries (miss you much, my friend) for a 4month fellowship in Open Learning at Thompson Rivers University. I loaded up Red Dog for a scenic trip up the west coast and into B.C. (with some worrisome moments with paperwork at the border).
The trip called for a fuel pump replacement in Bishop, California, a timely stop as that was the place I had done my ASU grad school research working out of that first S-10 pickup truck. Red Dog thus navigated its coldest weather (perfectly) for a Canadian Winter, braved the infamous Coquihalla Highway for back and forth visits to see my cousin in Vancouver, and all kinds of exploring around Kamloops for sightseeing and snowshoeing. Another milestone happened here with the 150000 odometer flip.
The return trip had a stop in Seattle for a flight to Hawaii to speak at the 20th TCC Conference. So a week on the island, return to Seattle, and hop in Red Dog for another scenic trip back to Strawberry.
April 2015 (155592 miles) Back in Arizona For a While (plus a dog for Red Dog)
Settled back in Strawberry, me and Red Dog continue road trips to Colorado, camping, etc. A key moment in April 2016 was a long term contract project with Creative Commons that gave me enough stability to go adopt Felix from the Payson Humane Society. On adoption day, I walked him out to the truck and had this thought “Will he want/be able to jump inside?”
July 1-23 2017 (172243 miles) To Canada and Back
The next phase for my life had again a loading of “stuff” into Red Dog for another big road trip. Note the fancy truck bag I had purchased to store gear in the back.
Cori and I had been seeing each other a while with plane trips from Arizona to Saskatchewan, for the summer we planned an extended visit where me and Felix and Red Dog would visit. I mapped a route to visit family in Denver and Laramie and also to hit some good camp spots in Montana, then see as much as we could fit in in Saskatchewan including historic sites, camping, a visit to Lake Diefenbaker, meeting Cori’s parents, and an unfortunate incident while we were out to dinner where Felix escaped to Cori’s second story roof needing a call to the fire department.
I opted for a different route home through west central Montana, through western Wyoming, down past Flaming Gorge in Utah, and home cutting across Navajo land in Arizona. I had planned one more night camping but decided to load on coffee and beeline back to Strawberry,
The iconic butte scenery
October 29, 2017 (178305 miles) To Australia via Chico
Look, Red Dog is packed again for a long time on the road. I was headed for a month’s stay in Melbourne Australia as part of a fellowship with the International Specialized Skills Institute. No, I had not outfitted the truck with pontoons or sails, but I had an important stop before the plane took off.
This photo was near the start, somewhere north of Prescott, Arizona.
It was 1000 miles from Strawberry to Chico, California we drove as my friends Kim and Jeff Jaxson had kindly offered to watch Felix for the month. I got to take familiar route across Death Valley that I had done often in my grad school Geology days. I even used Red Dog to re-enact the Sea Level photo I took in 1988 that found its way into a German CD cover (yes, an Amazing Story).
Somewhere in the ride back across California Red Dog flipped the 180000 line.
April 2018 (184104 miles) She Said Yes in Arizona (and then came back)
Red Dog was just on the set for the scene when Cori came to Arizona in early April for her first visit to Strawberry. She had said “yes” a month earlier, but here a the moment after picking her up at the airport as I had flowers waiting in the truck.
We had made the plans for me to drive to Saskatchewan in May for our June 1 wedding date. I had one more trip to attend the OER18 Conference in Bristol followed by a visit with Laura Ritchie in Chichester after which my NetNarr collegue Mia Zamora and I were slated to visit Catherine Cronin in Galway for a workshop.
The Ireland part of the trip went awry when while in Chichester, the vision in my right eye went completely blurred, a flareup of my diabetic retinopathy necessitated a trip to the hospital. Thankful was I for the UK health care that got me to a specialist, but the recommendation was for me to get back to Phoenix to see the opthalmologist who had been treating me.
After many calls with Cori, who wanted to fly to England to get me home, she agreed to take time off of school to meet me in Phoenix for my rescheduled trip back early. I was eyed out of the UK.
We timed our arrivals to get to the Phoenix airport together, she from Regina, me from the UK, but I was not going to be driving anywhere. Cori drove me first to see my specialist (an injection in the eye relieved the pressure), then up to Cottonwood to pick up Phoenix where he was boarded. She was brave to navigate Phoenix in the big old truck, but did it perfectly.
We had a weekend together so she could be sure my eye was good enough to drive to Canada in May. The next few weeks were packing for that trip.
May 7, 2018 (187220 miles) Moving to Canada
Once once one more Red Dog was fully packed with all I could carry to move to Saskatchewan. Felix and I headed north up the familiar highway 87 towards Flagstaff, then on to Durango to see my friend Mike Kelly.
It was across Monarch Pass in Colorado, flying through Montana, a stayover in Miles City, zip through the border, and finally arriving to unload at our new place. Red Dog was now a Canadian truck.
Through Aug 23, 2026 (219718 miles) The Seven Canada Years
Alas there is so much more, but this post is now almost as long as the miles on the odometer. In 2019 I went through the paperwork to import the truck and get it registered. It required getting headlights that were on on daylight, and just that first winter made it clear she needed an engine oil heater.
Red Dog was my regular vehicle for trips to town, but also hauled plenty of lumber, firewood, bricks, trees and shrubs, trailers, etc. Cori’s daughter Jessy Lee loved using it every day when she worked in Moose Jaw, and I would have loved to have given her a working red truck (there was a funny story the first summer when her friends visited and the cops pulled them over a bit suspicious of the Arizona plates).
The 200,000 mile odometer flip happened June 2020 just north of Eyebrow, SK. The caption includes “I’m taking bets where 300,000 will happen, because this truck is in it for the long haul.”
The truck was even more handy when we moved to our acreage for again hauling water trailers. And oh yes, when we drove in April snow of 2022 to outside of Llyodminster, Alberta to pick up a Polaris side by side we bought and Red Dog towed home, at 209000 miles on the clock.
Red Dog turned out to be super handy strong on the winter days when the tired on our snow clearing tractor Matilda (yes every vehicle gets a name) got stuck on the ice, or the times when I went a bit too far into the ditch. Put Red Dog into 4WD low and she just pulled like it was easy.
The phone rings, “I’m in a ditch” but Red Dog the 1998 F-150 and its might toe strap to the rescue. How is your Monday?
Alas last summer I noticed Red Dog was more stubborn to get started and when not used for a while, she ran rough. In August 2025 I had her checked at the Ford Dealer where they identified possible engine sensor issues, bad spark plugs, and maybe a valve leak. In November, I took her to a local mechanic in Moose Jaw, Andy’s Transmission, where they replaced the plugs, sensors, fuel filter, but alas, said that the engine likely needed a major valve overhaul as it was leaking oil in the engine.
So it was end of the line when I got her home, and let her sit. A few weeks ago I got hopeful, and charged up the battery. Maybe a long rest would be a magic charm. I had a recording of ther abortive efforts, she would crank and the engine tried, but it never got to idle. Red Dog was done.
I waited through the summer knowing I should try to sell the old truck. A salvage operation from Regina would only offer like $150 to come out and take her for scrap, but the new tires I had put on 2025 had only 3000 miles on them and were worth more than that.
Because I am like among the last 1000 humans not on Facebook, I was happy 2 weeks ago that Jessy Lee was willing to list on Facebook Marketplace.
Apparently the interest in old Fords is huge! it listed 730 clicks to view and some 30 saves. The messages poured in, and the person most keenly interested offered $500 over my list price (the word is that they love Red Fords).
Today a young man came by to take her away, bought by his boss. Apparently theory have the same year and model Ford but the body is falling apart, so they plan to “drop the engine” into Red Dog. So off she goes to maybe some more life.
Okay, I have made maybe the longest bog post in history, overloaded with photos, all about a 28 year old red pickup truck. I am not sad at all, I had more memories and places seen in that truck than would fit. And Red Dog brought me safe here to life with Cori on our “farm.”
Thanks, Red Dog!
Featured Image: Composite of first photo of Red Dog from July 10, 2010 looking all shiny new in Strawberry Arizona That’s Not My Gray Mitsubishi! flickr photo by cogdogblog shared into the public domain using Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication (CC0) combined with Red Dog’s last parking spot after getting her home November 12, 2025 Red Dog’s Last Stand flickr photo by cogdogblog shared into the public domain using Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication (CC0)
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Hey Spark plugs! That might be the easiest thing evar if that's all it needed.
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