10-4 Magazine - For Today's Trucker

KID'S PAGE - JANUARY 2005

Dear 10-4 Magazine,

My name is Colton Pounds and I am 11 years old. I am in the 6th grade and I go to Laurelglen Elementary School. I live in Bakersfield, California with my dad, my mom, and my brother. Our house is right next to our truck yard. My brother and I are the fourth generation to live on the same property. My brother’s name is Weston. He is 14 years old and goes to Foothill High School.

Central Valley Transport is an agricultural trucking business that my great-grandfather bought after he moved to the Bakersfield area. My dad and uncle bought the business from their grandfather in 1983. My father drives a 2001 Freightliner Classic Conventional and my uncle drives a 1987 Freightliner Cabover. We haul potatoes, grapes, almonds, walnuts, citrus and liquid fertilizer. Our business now includes potato harvesting too. My brother, my cousin Mark and I will be the fourth generation to drive trucks for Central Valley Transport. During the summer, we sometimes get to go out to the potato fields with dad or my uncle. It is hot and the work can be hard. We have fun when we can drive the field tractors from one area to another.

I am always drawing, working on my dad’s truck, or reading 10-4 Magazine. I really like the trucks in 10-4. My favorite issue was the March 2003 issue. That issue was of Mike Maggini’s truck. We are always going against him at the truck shows. His truck always impresses me because of all the new things he comes up with. Mike Maggini and Bobby Ipsen are the drivers. Bobby pulls a low bed for Maggini.

This summer (2004) I became a truck owner. I asked my dad for a truck and he gave me one of our shuttle trucks. It is a 1981 Freightliner. It wasn’t very pretty but it did run. We already have replaced the pipes with straight pipes and have put new full fenders on it. Our friend, Jeff West, polished the wheels and the truck looks better already. Its paint is old but I keep it washed. In time, it will be repainted, too. It has a 400 Cummins engine in it. We’ll be replacing it with a Big Cam 400 Cummins.

Truck shows have been a lot of fun for my family and me. We have gone to many of the area truck shows and have made a lot of new friends. We went to the Costa Mesa truck show and met some people who were part of the Antique Truck Historical Society. Sandy Cowling and Dennis Chan brought their 1964 and 1953 Peterbilts to Costa Mesa and we helped them by bringing our ladder over and shining their chrome stacks. We are still friends with them and like seeing them at the different truck shows. They met us at the Reno show and we all had a great time. My mom and I drove to Chowchilla for an antique truck show and had a great time with Sandy and Dennis. I like new trucks, but the old ones are fun too.

Sincerely,
Colton Pounds
Bakersfield, CA