Cover Feature: By Daniel J. Linss years, the couple got divorced in 1987 so Bobby and his mother, along with his two sisters, moved back to the Central Valley (Denair, CA) where Bobby attended elementary and middle school. After another move to the Paso Robles area in California, Bobby started high school in the small town of Templeton, CA, and then his mother moved back to the valley. Bobby did not want to be in the valley, so at the young age of 16 years old he got emancipated from his mother (took legal responsibility for himself) and went out on his own. Moving back to the Paso Robles area and going back to high school in Templeton, he rented a room from his cousin and got several jobs, while still going to school, including hauling hay with his pickup, working at a local gas station and a car wash, digging holes with a backhoe for local almond farmers, and cleaning out horse stalls – whatever he could do, he did it. Halfway through his senior year in 1997, Bobby graduated early and went on a work/study program and took a full time job, working as an assistant to a truck mechanic, who had lost his driver’s license. Doing parts runs and driving trucks around the yard, Bobby learned a lot while at this job. At 18, his next job was at Whirlwind Excavating, but when the winter hit and the work In today’s ever-changing world of trucking, being a diverse operation can be the difference between failure and success. And one way to be diverse is to never say no! Whenever someone asks Bobby Vaz (46) of Robert Vaz Trucking (RVT) based in Paso Robles, CA if he can haul something for them, without hesitation he always says, “Yes, we can do that,” regardless of whether he has the proper equipment or knowledge to do it at that moment. Not to imply that he lies or leads people on, Bobby just doesn’t like to say no to any work, so he always finds a way to get it done – and get it done right! In his current fleet, Bobby has a bevy of different types of trucks and trailers, including ten tankers, eight flatbeds, one refrigerated van, two dry vans, one lowbed, livestock trailers and more, which allow him to haul bulk wine and other liquids, oversize loads, any and all refrigerated or dry products, hay, livestock, containers, and more. And to add to all that, they are currently building a transfer, so things like sand, gravel, rock, glass, and other building materials you might haul with a transfer can be added to that long list, as well. Bobby Vaz is one of the hardest working guys we have ever met, and he is not afraid to try new things. One of the sayings he kept using during our time together was, “If you put it on my plate, I’ll eat it!” Going back to Bobby’s roots, on his father’s side, his great grandfather Evaristo Vaz got in the dairy business in Northern California back in the 1930s. His grandfather Everett drove trucks and operated equipment for a concrete and aggregate outfit called McPhails located in San Rafael, CA for 38 years before retiring. Everett’s brothers, Raymond and Paul, got into the dairy business and trucking, respectively. Paul Vaz was in Lodi, CA and had close to 50 trucks at one point, which included bottom dumps, transfers, tankers and vans. On Bobby’s mother’s side, his grandfather John Dompeling, who was in Turlock, CA, had about nine cattle trucks and operated from about the 1950s through the 1980s. He passed away in 1998. One of his drivers and best friends, Angelo, took Bobby trucking a lot when he was growing up. Sadly, Angelo died in a wreck when he overturned his cattle truck on the Grapevine in the early 90s after driving for probably 50 years. Grandpa John and his friend Angelo were two of Bobby’s earliest trucking influences. Born in July of 1978 to Robert (Bob) and Catherine Vaz in Turlock, CA, Bobby’s dad Bob hauled hay and milk in California’s Central Valley. When Bobby was just two years old, his father died in a head-on collision in September 1980 while driving his hay truck at the young age of 26, so Bobby never knew his dad and has no memories of him. Bobby’s mother Catherine remarried in 1984 to another trucker named Bob Rylaarsdam from Chino, CA. Bob hauled cattle and hay in Southern California, and Bobby loved going out trucking with him. At seven years old, Bobby can remember going out with his stepdad to a ranch in Corona, CA to pick up cattle and then taking them down to the kill plant in Escondido, CA. Bob would let Bobby sit in his lap and “drive” the truck – a green 1962 Freightliner cabover truck and trailer – all the way home. This is where Bobby really fell in love with trucking! And today he has that truck sitting in his yard, waiting to be redone!! Living with Bob in Chino for just a few 10 10-4 Magazine / March 2025 NEVER SAY NO!
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