10-4 Magazine - For Today's Trucker

COVER FEATURE - AUGUST 2005

TRUCKING BY THE LB.
WORTH THEIR WEIGHT IN SPUDS – AND THEN SOME

By Daniel J. Linss - Editor

Mark and Keith Pounds have never been given anything - except the opportunity to work. And this opportunity they have not squandered. With a larger-than-life work ethic instilled in them by their grandfather, these brothers have built upon the solid foundation of success that was started by Frank Pounds. Their agricultural-based trucking and harvesting operation has been around since the 1940’s, and with the fourth generation being groomed to join them, this company is sure to be around for a long time to come.

Frank B. Pounds was a no-nonsense kind of guy - the kind of guy that told you the way it was and that was that. If he didn’t like you, he let you know. But he was an honest man and a hard-working man. In 1939 he left Oklahoma and brought his wife Edna, their two sons and his recently divorced mother to California after hearing that people were making money in the fruit business. Frank’s mother bought a big spread of land in Bakersfield and, four generations later, some of the land is still in the family. Shortly after arriving in California, Frank was called to serve overseas in World War II. After the war, he, like most Americans, got busy.

In 1945, Frank and his brother Willard went into business together and bought a gas-powered, 10-wheeler, International truck. Willard hauled potatoes in the day and Frank ran hay at night - and Frank B. Pounds Trucking was born. Over the years, they built their business, seizing opportunities as they presented themselves. They also got involved in the harvesting end of farming, managing labor crews in the fields.

In 1964, the duo bought out Central Valley Transport (CVT). At the time, CVT mostly hauled their own freight which included cattle, oil, grain and other agricultural products. With the purchase came 15 trucks and trailers and a few good hauls. By now, Frank’s boys, Ray and Frank Jr. (known as F.L.) had joined the company. Throughout the 1960s and 70s, Frank, Willard, Ray and F.L. lived like gypsies, following the harvests.

About this time, Ray’s boys, Keith and Mark, were getting old enough to start helping out as well. Keith got his license at 16 and started running a truck. Mark, who was two years behind his brother, graduated in 1978 and then got his license. Trucking came natural to Keith, but Mark had to work a little harder to get really good at it. But neither of these boys were ever afraid of work. Grandpa Frank made sure of that. Even as kids, if they worked a man’s day, they were paid a man’s wage.

In 1974, Frank B. Pounds Trucking was phased out and everything started running under the CVT name. Not long after that, around 1978, after years of working together, everyone involved in the company split up and went their separate ways. The two young boys, Keith and Mark, decided to stick it out with grandpa. Frank sold everything except two trucks and seven sets of trailers. Keith and Mark ran the two trucks, hauling mostly potatoes, and learned the ropes. In 1982, grandpa Frank sold the business to Keith and Mark. Frank stayed on at the company and helped out quite a bit until his death in 1997.

Since Keith and Mark have taken over the company, growth has come, but always slow and steady. In 1990, they bought out a local potato hauling operation named Cal Edison, and in 1993, they took on a big potato hauling job for Lehr Brothers. In 2000, that same company offered them a contract to start harvesting their fields, in addition to hauling the product. At that point, they phased out all of the smaller aspects of their operation and put their focus entirely on potato hauling and harvesting.

Today, their fleet consists of twelve trucks, 60 sets of trailers, and various pieces of harvesting equipment. Depending on the season, CVT employs anywhere from 25-40 people. Their dad, Ray, at 69, still owns his own truck and works as a sub-hauler for the boys. In the heyday of the potato harvest, they will haul as much as 1,500 tons (do the math and that’s 3,000,000 pounds) of potatoes per day. That’s a lot of spuds!

Based in Bakersfield, California, the CVT yard sits on the last remaining piece of land (14 acres) that was originally purchased by their great grandmother back in 1939. In fact, Mark, along with his wife and kids, still lives in the house that he and Keith were raised in. The house was built by their parents back in 1967 and is inside the CVT yard. That’s what you call stability - Mark has only moved once and it was when he was seven years old (and it was just down the street)! Living on the premises makes his job, managing the trucking end of things, a lot easier.

As much as he misses driving his truck on a regular basis, Keith’s job is to run the harvesting end of things. Most days you’ll find him out in the fields running a large harvester and most nights you’ll find him chasing women. Keith has been divorced since 1994 and has made a second career out of “looking for” another lady. He is currently having a house built just a couple miles from the CVT yard. These boys don’t stray too far from their familiar surroundings, but in a hectic world where everyone moves so often that they never put any roots down, it’s nice that they (and their kids) have a place they can call “home” and really mean it.

Featured on our cover, centerfold and these pages are Keith and Mark’s personal rigs. Keith’s baby is the cabover and Mark runs the conventional. Keith ordered the 1987 Freightliner cabover white with a red frame, but the salesman screwed up and the truck came in a light rose metallic color instead. Keith didn’t like it at all, but after pinstriping it and putting the signs on the doors, he thought it looked good enough to keep. Equipped with a 444 Cummins engine, a 13-speed trans and a 2-speed Eaton rear-end (one side is geared at 3.70 and the other is 5.34), this rig has a lot of torque, which can come in handy out in the fields. In 1998 he stretched the truck’s 150-inch wheelbase to its present length of 166-inches and installed a new-style air-ride suspension under it.

In 2001, one of Keith’s kids was moving the truck inside their yard and hit an awning. The impact of the collision was strong enough to rip off a grab handle and peel the entire passenger side of the cab open. At that point, Keith needed to have the cab re-skinned, so he decided to repaint it all as well. To really spiff up the old rig, he had candy red and white flames, with thin yellow outlines, added to the front and sides of the truck. Aside from a few pieces here and there, the truck has not changed much since then.

Shortly before all this happened with the cabover, in the spring of 2000, Keith thought it was time to get himself a new ride, so he ordered a 2001 Freightliner Classic XL conventional just the way he wanted it. But while he was waiting for it to be built and delivered, they (CVT) were offered the big harvesting job from Lehr Brothers. Knowing that he wouldn’t be able to drive it much, he offered it to Mark, who had no problem with driving a brand new conventional. When Keith ordered it, he tried to get it with Cummins’ brand new Signature 600 engine, but Freightliner wouldn’t put an engine that big in a 2-axle truck, so it came with a 575 horsepower, 14-liter Detroit. Not a bad compromise. It also came with a 13-speed trans, a 4.10 rear-end, a 235-inch wheelbase and a 48-inch flat top integral sleeper. Both of the boy’s trucks have plush interiors with all the extras. Mark’s conventional also features black fenders with ghost flames, purple passion and magenta flames on the hood, and a magenta-colored motor with lots of chrome. The rig also has a unique Texas-style bumper, built by Valley Chrome, which features angled (not rolled or boxed) ends.

But this story really isn’t about the trucks. It’s about the history, the tradition and the family that make CVT such a neat company. It’s rare to see a company last for three generations, but Keith and Mark are currently grooming the fourth generation - their kids - and these kids are crazy about trucks and trucking! It is absolutely amazing to see the level of commitment and enthusiasm these kids have toward trucking. Keith has two boys and a girl, and Mark and Susan, his wife of 21 years, have two boys. Keith’s oldest son Ryan (22) is currently not involved with CVT, but he just got his Learner’s Permit and is helping out his grandpa Ray (Keith and Mark’s dad). Keith’s daughter Erikka (20) works in the office and does some dispatching, and his youngest son Markie (16) just got his Learner’s Permit. Markie helped us out during the photo shoot, moving the truck on our every whim, and did a great job. As soon as Markie gets his license, Keith figures he’ll have to give him the flamed cabover because he loves that truck so much and has always taken such great care of it.

On Mark’s side of the family, his oldest boy Weston (15) already has his own truck and can’t wait to get his license. Mark’s other son Colton (12) also has his own truck and, although he can’t drive it outside the yard, he washes it and cleans it constantly. He too, like his older brother, can’t wait to get on the road. All of these kids are motivated and excited about becoming a part of CVT. But Keith and Mark don’t want to just give their kids everything - they want to present them with opportunities and then let them earn whatever it is that they want, which is exactly what their grandpa Frank did for them. For the kids to truly appreciate and respect all that they have, they’ll need to go out and earn it on their own.

Recently, CVT started making their own trailers and are currently building their fourth set. They believe that they can build a better trailer for half the cost of buying new. Freddie Black does all the welding and fabrication and Robert Maddox is in charge of fleet maintenance. Both of these guys have been around for well over ten years. Inside the office, Mrs. Johnson has been a bookkeeper for CVT since 1964. She keeps talking about retiring, but she just can’t bring herself to leave “her boys” in someone else’s care. They must be a good family and company to work for to keep people around for that long.

Central Valley Transport is a solid (debt free) company, but its true strength comes from these two brothers - who are entirely different. Keith is built like a brick house and is rough, while Mark is wiry and tactful. But like in a marriage, opposites attract. These two play upon each other’s strengths and weaknesses and, together, make a great team.

Both of the boys eat, sleep and breathe CVT, so there isn’t much time for anything else. But neither of the brothers believes that they’ll be slowing down any time soon. Like their grandpa, they’ll work hard until the day they die. And thankfully, when that does finally happen, they’ll have plenty of capable hands to leave Central Valley Transport securely in.