Some Welcome Time Off!

Looks like the company's local customers are in an inventory mode so we have a few days of R&R. Its a seasonal thing which I welcome after running hard for months with often short weekends and very busy days. As usual business will pickup again next week and Volvo's wheels will again be turning toward Chicago or the Twin Cities. As for a couple days.....sleep late, take a noon day nap, catch up on chores, and maybe even spend a little money! Later this week the horses will be calling for a ride to the local Dickinson County Fair. Fear not Doc and Jim and Chief and whatever the rest of you guys are called, I'll be there!

The Baby Genevieve and Big Sister Julia

Gosh, I've neglected to talk about my visit last week to Northfield to see the new baby Genevieve. Here she is just a few days old in Dad's hands posing with Julia. Welcome to the family Genevieve! See more pictures of Genevieve and the Northfield crew at Flickr.

The Horses Mouth

Victoria, daughter of Mr G's ranch caretaker, enjoys the horses as much as it appears the horses enjoy her horsing around with them. This one stands docilely as she tugs at his "lips" to expose his teeth!

Volvo 1024

Well, here we are with those horses again but this time with Volvo 1024. Its been two weeks already since we "moved in". I finally got this picture today in Florence where we went to give rides for Trail Days. Two teams in harness pulled wagons and were kept quite busy for 4 hours.

Now as for Volvo 1024.......
It is quite a gem compared to the previous trucks. I think young Gunville decided to add a few amenities like power windows, power mirrors, a cd player, arm rests, more gauges, an engine brake, air ride front suspension, and much more! And the bigger engine built by Volvo adds 25 percent more power! It will take some learning as does any new vehicle but a new "ride" is always welcome.

Volvo 1008 and I Made Our Last Run

Saturday was our last run together. It was a "fun run" to the Alger County Fair with three of the bosses 8 Belgian draft horses. He has taken to a new hobby in recent years collecting and showing his prized Belgians and apparently I have been chosen to drive them about the area to fairs and various events. This was our second event this sumnmer so the crew is learning the process of showing. So far we've done quite well at the two small shows. We'll go to a few more this fall and learn some more.
As for Volvo 1008 the odometer read 680,790 when I cleaned it out today for the next driver. Those were pretty much all my miles except for a few put on while I was on vacations. I made my first run with it on February 19, 2002. Tomorrow I go out with Volvo 2024! I'll report on its first run later.