12 10-4 Magazine / March 2025 sleeper for Bobby. Painted dark metallic brown and cream, this truck was a real head turner, and Bobby loved driving it. After battling cancer for just over a year, Ed passed away in January of 2019. Bobby’s mom passed away that year, as well, so it was a particularly tough time. Not knowing what was going to happen, Bobby bought a couple used trucks from our mutual friend Mark Pounds at Central Valley Transport in Bakersfield, including a 2-axle 1999 Freightliner FLD and a 3-axle 2003 Freightliner Classic, and formed Robert Vaz Trucking (RVT). A few months later, Ed’s family decided to shut his company down and sell all the equipment (you might remember this brown and cream cattle truck because it appeared on our April 2020 cover after Terry Wright bought it from Ed’s family). Getting a loan from the bank, Bobby was able to buy Ed’s hay squeeze and a set of 1976 Merritt double cattle trailers and, using those two Freightliner trucks, he began hauling whatever he could find. Around this same time, Micheal Dusi Trucking of Paso Robles, CA – another past cover truck feature (October 2013) – abruptly went out of business, as well, so Bobby bought one of his tanker trailers. Hauling grapes and then eventually wine with that tanker, Bobby never looked back! Over the years, Bobby has bought and sold plenty of used trucks, but after incorporating the business in 2020, RVT got its first new truck – a 2020 Peterbilt 389 daycab – painted in the RVT colors of Peterbilt Cream and Omaha Orange. With a 240” wheelbase, this truck (which Bobby still has) is equipped with a 525-hp Cummins, a 13-speed, an air-ride front axle, and rides on 255 rubber all around. When Bobby first got this truck, he hauled anything and everything with it. Today, Bobby’s son-in-law and right hand man Ryan Johnston drives the truck, which is typically hooked to a tanker or hauling equipment. With about 400,000 miles on the odometer, which is a decent amount considering it doesn’t run long haul, Ryan takes great care of it. Over the next two years, Bobby ordered several more brand-new cream and orange trucks, including two 2021 Peterbilt 389s with 48” flat tops, and then two 2022 Peterbilt 389s with 36” flat top sleepers, one of which was a 2-axle and the other a 3-axle (this is Bobby’s current sleeper truck to this day). His personal truck – the 3-axle 2022 Peterbilt 389 with a 36” sleeper – was ordered “plain Jane” with no cab lights, no visor, no fenders and no vertical pipes (it has a weed burner exhaust underneath), and was then sent to Kyle at Transportation Services in Sacramento, CA to be customized. Arriving in May of 2022, the truck spent the next three months in Sacramento getting done up by Kyle and his crew. Much of the truck was painted cream including the tanks (fuel and
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