Hitting The Open Road

One Way -
The North American Iron Mark Tour: Challenging, Rewarding, Spectacular and Surprising!

We've met some great people, seen some unexpected things and renewed our faith in community. We have seen the majesty of this great land and experienced great hosts at every location.

We couldn't have run the tour without the cooperation of the Volvo Truck dealer network. We want to thank the dealers involved in this calendar for providing great trucks and even better attitudes. If that's what dealers are willing to do for a photo we can only imagine what lengths they go to for their customers.

Dealer pride was evident at every stop on the tour. The trucks that star in the calendar were always clean and detailed. The drivers were always patient and knowledgeable and the locations always provided an interesting stage.

This tour, and the 2008 Volvo Truck calendar, will show how connected Volvo's dealers are to their communities and how ready they are to support their customers no matter where they find themselves.

Following is a photo album from the tour. This is a picture of two of our crew members, Cliff and Adam, wearing their Iron Mark Tour t-shirts.

Special thanks to all of the dealerships that made this tour possible...

The Kriete Group - Green Bay, WI
Chicago Truck Sales - Chicago, Ill
Arizona Truck Centers - Tucson, AZ
Mountain West Truck Center - Salt Lake City, UT
Westfall Volvo & GMC Truck - Kansas City, MO
General Truck Sales - Memphis, TN
Roberts Truck Center - Garden City, GA
Baltimore Volvo Trucks - Baltimore, MD
Pacific Coast Heavy Truck Center - Surrey, BC
Camions Montreal - Montreal, QC
Dario Diesel Volvo Truck - Worcester, MA
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Green Bay, Wisconsin

This was the first stop for our Milwaukee based crew. The truck we shot was transported from Iowa in order to make the shoot. It had a brilliant metallic orange finish and looked great against the stark white snow.

One of the scenic roads that we wanted to shoot on was closed due to heavy snow, but our driver just shrugged it off. We passed some beautiful dairy farms and drove through a little town called De Pere where it felt like time stood still. This was a great place to kick things off.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Downtown Chicago

We spent a lot of time on the dealer's lot capturing the big time powerful looks of the Volvo tractor. We spotted an imposing gray 880 that looked sort of caged up and hungry against the overcast sky.

We finished our shoot just as day was turning to night in Chicago's loop, and of course we saw lots of Volvo Trucks still at work!
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

On our way out of town we stopped to fuel up at a Chicago area gas station. We met this driver doing the same on his nightly run from Milwaukee to Chicago. He spent the next fifteen minutes telling us how much he loved his job - and how much he loved driving his Volvo Truck. Before he jumped in his cab he wrote down his name and address and asked us to send him a Volvo Trucks calendar.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Tucson Area Desert

We picked up our truck in Tucson and headed for the desert. We found a great, quiet road leading up to a plateau. That's where this guy came along. He got pretty close to us and hung around for a little while. If asked he probably would have joined the tour - what a groupie!
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Park City, Utah

This great town near Salt Lake was really friendly and beautiful. We were a little late for the ski season but things were still hopping. The power of our 670 was really appreciated as we asked the driver to do a lot of repetitive driving on the steep mountain roads.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Kansas City Clean

Kansas City was the only place where we encountered rain. Fortunately the rain gave us some wet pavement and an interesting mood. We took photos that Volvo's customers will totally relate to.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Beale Street, Memphis

This was our only night shoot. Our host and driver, Mr. Jack Wilson, brought his wife and daughter along to join us.

This truck was a rock star. We were there on a Monday night and the tourists continually interrupted our work by taking pictures of themselves in front of this totally prepped truck.

The shoot went past midnight and ended with some great Memphis ribs and a night cap at B.B. King's blues club.

During the shoot we were stopped by a vacationing couple from Sweden. Turns out that the husband works at Volvo Truck and just happened upon our shoot. Yes, they were among the visitors that took a number of personal pictures with the truck! Small world.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Savannah, Georgia

History runs extra deep in this charming city. Our VHD driver was in his eighties and was an amateur historian. We drove through the famous squares that peppered the historic district, parked in front of Johnny Mercer's mansion and we were educated about the oldest African American church in the United States.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Ahoy Baltimore!

A lot of energy was spent locating this Candy Apple Red VN 670 and it really photographed well. We wanted to show a nautical theme for Baltimore so we spent some time at the great inner harbor. Our host, Jim Brooks, showed no fear in maneuvering the truck into some tight spots in order to get the just right frame. He even snuck in behind a delivery vehicle in order to get up close to Camden Yards.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Vancouver, British Columbia

We traveled all the way out to Vancouver from Baltimore. This change in climate and time zone was a fantastic reminder as to how immense this continent really is.

The intense traffic of the city led us away from the hustle bustle - as a result we were able to see a quieter glimpse of life in the beautiful Northwest. We took most of our truck shots outside of the city on the coastline.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Montreal, Quebec

bonjour! Our stop in this French first location was a true cosmopolitan experience. We crossed the St. Lawrence river many times in our efforts to capture the personality of this energetic city. The old world/new century attitude of Montreal left us wishing for more time here, but the tour kept us moving along.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Worcester, Massachusetts

Time was arranged for us to visit a working gravel pit for photos. That environment gave the truck a chance to work out in front of the camera. While we were there we spotted this Volvo-White Autocar old timer, one that a few of us can remember new!
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Guadalajara. Jalisco, Mexico

Our last stop on the tour! We met our guide at our hotel and started exploring this incredible city immediately. The stone work found in the well preserved historic district made for a beautiful backdrop for the blue 670 we were driving. We went on to visit the nearby agave fields and enjoyed our host dealer's excellent hospitality.