00:04 You know, I call and I say, “Hey, I want to go out to California, Las Vegas.” And she like, “Okay, I got something for you.” And they put it together for me. They I love it. They keep me busy. They keep me going where I want to go at. I’ve seen the world. It’s a whole lot of things I hadn’t seen before that I wanted to do, and I’m just thankful that I’m able to do everything that I want to do. Welcome to Six-Figure Trucker, the podcast where we share advice on how to be successful in trucking and have fun while doing so. We’ll share stories, news, and advice on how to earn six figures in trucking. And we’ll speak to guys and gals that are already doing so. Let’s get to the show.

00:47 Welcome to the Six-Figure Trucker brought to you by Norton Transport. And joining us tonight here on the Six-Figure Trucker, again, brought to you by Norton Transport, is Deanna Kearney. Now, Deanna has been driving with Norton Transport for some time, and she’s one of our I guess you would say most popular drivers, very favorite. Absolutely. I put out the plea to dispatchers here in the building said we wanted to include in the fold. I mean, we talked to several guys, but you know, in our last episode, we talked to a female driver and we wanted to talk to some more. And Deanna’s name kept popping up. I said, I need to get in touch with Deanna. And here she is. Here she is with us tonight. Deanna, how are you?

01:30 I’m good.

01:31 Now, where are you now? And are you on the road with your headset?

01:37 Yes, I am. And I’m in Alabama right now. I’m about to go to the stadium and hang out for a little while.

01:45 To the stadium. Which stadium?

01:46 Alabama. The football team. You know, Alabama, the Alabama football team. I’ve never seen it.

01:53 Oh.

01:53 Go and hang out down here and check out Alabama.

01:56 Oh, you mean like Roll Tide?

01:58 Yes.

01:59 Are you an Alabama fan?

02:01 No, I’m not. But I know they win a lot of football games.

02:04 So, you just happen to be in the area, so you’re going to take in some scenery while you’re out there—

02:10 Right? Right. Yep. Take in some scenery and enjoy myself, get some good food.

02:16 I’ll tell you a great place. Now, I myself, not to talk about myself, but I went to the University of Georgia, but a great place in Tuscaloosa is Dreamland Barbecue. Dreamland Barbecue, if you’ve ever been there.

02:29 Okay.

02:30 Now, where were you coming from on your way through Alabama?

02:36 So, I picked up in Alabama, actually.

02:39 Okay.

02:40 And then I’mma take a break and then I’mma get up and go to Chesapeake, Virginia. That’s your next stop.

02:47 And that’s going to be the that’s where I’mma drop off at in Cherokee, Virginia. So, it’s a learn with me time to go, which I love it to go home and see my family before I, you know, get another load out of there. So, I’m spend some time with my family down in Virginia, Chesapeake, Virginia Beach, you know that area.

03:06 Oh, yeah. That’s a pretty area. So, that’s where your family is?

03:09 That’s where my family is. That’s where I’m from.

03:12 Your whole family is still there? My whole family is still there.

03:17 How many people are in Deanna’s family—

03:19 Right now? The ones that I claim.

03:27 That’s too funny.

03:27 Only one.

03:31 That’s the one I’mma be claiming.

03:33 I got you. I got you. Now, where does Deanna Where did you fall in the birth order within your family?

03:40 Where did I fall in the birth order? Okay. Believe it or not, I have six brothers and I’m the only girl.

03:46 Wow. Wow.

03:47 So, it’s three over me. One is the tea and then the other others are under me.

03:56 I got—

03:56 And it’s not good being the only girl.

03:58 So, you’re kind of in the middle and the only girl.

04:02 Yeah. Yeah.

04:03 Now—

04:04 Yeah.

04:05 Get no break from the boys. I said, “I bet the boys that that wanted to date you back in the day had a rough time, too, with”

04:12 I had no boyfriends—

04:14 With all those—

04:14 No boyfriends—

04:16 With all those brothers hanging around and protecting you there. But—

04:20 Yes—

04:21 Did that have an influence on you moving into the industry of driveaway trucking and trucking in general? So, you know, when I got into driving, I seen a whole lot of older women out here handling the truck. So, I was like, you know, they out here doing their thing. I can come out here and drive, too. So, that kind of influenced me to get out here and get over the road cuz at first I was a basic school bus driver.

04:51 Gotcha. Yeah. That’s you led me to my next question. Let’s get a little background on Deanna here. You were a school bus driver. Tell us when you started and how long you did that.

05:01 I didn’t do it long because I found out about Norton. So Norton stole me away. I did the school bus driving thing for about three years.

05:12 And did it feel like 20 years?

05:15 And then it was actually good. It was actually good. I had a X-Men route and but it got me driving the big school bus and then you know so now I can drive anything but know I drive at all.

05:30 Now driving a school bus how does that transition or translate rather to driving everything else? I mean what’s the difference between driving a school bus I’m assuming if you can drive it all?

05:42 We already know what’s the difference. We going to know what’s the difference. There’s no kids on the I don’t have no kids. I have no passengers. Driving with Norton, you know, and driving over the road, you drive by yourself. It’s peaceful and but the school bus allowed me to learn how to deal with the traffic as far as driving big buses and things like that.

06:07 Do you think—

06:08 And I enjoyed it. I really enjoyed it. Do you think driving a school bus gave you a greater appreciation for the safety component since you had those children on there?

06:20 Absolutely. Absolutely. Because when I’m driving north and picking up the school buses that I have to, I kind of speak that I put myself in the mind that I have students on my bus and let me do the right thing.

06:34 Right. Right. And you know, coincidentally, today we had a big meeting about safety. And since we’re talking about it now, and you came from a background of driving a school bus first, how important or where would you rank safety when you look at all the components that go into driveaway trucking be, you know, the pressure, delivering on time, fuel economy, safety, where would you put it in all those components?

07:00 Safety is very important. I would say that I would put it because you have other drivers out here who will cut you off and pretty much don’t care that you’re driving a school bus. They gonna feel cut in front of you. So to know all the little safety rules and the nicks and you know defensive driving that you guys teach with the videos and there is very important. You need it is very important because people are moving so fast nowadays. Nobody is slowing down and you know everybody got somewhere to go and people and then you got work traffic, you got that amount of traffic going on sometimes when you coming through there. You got to know how to do that. You got to be safety. You got to know how to account for the drivers because you know who is driving big trucks. We need to stop is a lot of, you know, we got to stop ahead of time and people don’t realize that the big trucks we coming through with the big school buses that we can’t stop like them.

07:57 So, you got to be extra careful.

07:59 How much does that reinforce how much you have to be cognizant of your awareness and your situational awareness and your reaction time? Because you just said there about you got to stop a big truck. I mean, how do you bring that into the whole dynamic of driving a big truck?

08:22 You just got to have your distance. You got to go go by the rules and have your distance away from the vehicles in front of you so that you’re you allow yourself plenty of time to be able to stop, you know. And that’s one great thing about it with Norton. Can pretty much, you know, let— No, hey, I’m not going to be able to deliver the this unit until tomorrow and then you’re, you know, you’re only you’re 10 hours away. So, you can pretty much take your time. It’s no rush. You know what I’m saying? You can pretty much make your own hours. So, you don’t need to be out here on the road rushing to get nowhere. And that way you it allows Norton allows us to be able to take our time to get to our destination.

09:05 Right. How important is that to you?

09:09 It’s very important to work with a team like Norton. I love the family vibe. I hadn’t been down there in Atlanta to meet all of them and I but I’m trying to get down there to meet them. It’s a great family atmosphere. I feel it over the phone. I feel it. I feel it in the atmosphere.

09:27 Deanna Kearney, she’s definitely one of the family here from a Norton Transport Six-Figure Trucker.

09:34 I love you guys. Hey, we love you too. We love you too. And love the laugh too. Great sounding laugh. Sounds like Are you a positive person? I mean, I’m picking up on it that you are.

09:43 Yes. So, and then so knowing allows you to be able to take your time and you know, they give you good routes and you know, I call and I say, “Hey, I want to go out to California, Las Vegas.” And she like, “Okay, I got something for you.” And they put it together for me. They keep me busy. I love it. They keep me busy. They keep me going where I want to go at. I’ve seen the world. It’s a whole lot of things I hadn’t seen before that I wanted to do and I’m just thankful that I’m able to do everything that I want to do.

10:12 You know, I know you ran a couple of my accounts. You went to Anaheim and you took the CNG seven tank CNG—

10:21 Garbage trucks or refuge trucks out to Anaheim and you came back and did another one. Tell us how that was. I think that was—

10:28 So the first one was kind of— Yeah, that was kind of crazy right there. So, the first one we had, Norton and I, we had a whole lot of units going out there. Everybody unit broke down, but mine, you know, just was a little glitch and with a system or whatever, but they had to pull on over to the side and get their little unit worked on, which they got it fixed real fast. But it was just crazy cuz M was the only one that made it out that group at that particular time. So, I was nervous the whole time. So, but anyway, learning the route, put that gas in, it was very easy. You get the website and you got a map. All of it is very interesting to me. You got to be you got to have some common sense because you know from the CNG when you pick one up you got like 200 miles before you get to another station. So you got to make sure you know you mount it out and get to your CNG station and that was my first time putting the CNG in the tank which was good. I love that too. I mean I really feel like a trucker out here.

11:25 You’re master of the road. Master of the road. Talk a little bit more. Talk a little bit more about the CNG experience because actually I had mapped that out, did a little research of where the stations were along I-40, I-40 West there. Talk a little bit about how is that different from your traditional or conventional diesel truck driving.

11:46 Yeah. So the diesel things you can, you know, you can get your diesel anywhere. CNG you can’t get anywhere. So you really have to stay on your map. You really have to stay on your P’s and Q’s because you really have to know like some of the CNG places maybe they’re not 24 hours. So you really have to know which ones is 24 hours. You have to call ahead to make sure they’re open. Some of them have a code. So you got to get in contact with that person making sure that person answer the phone so you can get the code to get in the gates to get your CNG. But pretty much the CNG is much cheaper than the diesel. That’s where I was going.

12:25 I like that unit. I like that unit. You can make your money. You can make you almost can make all of your money going with the CNG because some of it like a $1.74—

12:37 And then you can fill your little tank up from little of nothing.

12:40 You know, I was involved with that account and we did some research on it. Obviously, you did your research as far as everything you just kind of laid out there for us, but you know, is it your feeling or vibe out there that some drivers are kind of reluctant to use CNG when you look at it and you’ve made two runs out to California and like you just said, it pays off in the end. It pays off in the end. But I think the drivers if it was some more CNG tanks to go out to California, that’s that will be what I will be doing right now because Norton is so good about it. You know, they pay for your flight coming back. So, you don’t even have to pay to get back home or wherever else it is that you want to go. So, they really take care of you when you do the CNG on out to California. And then, hey, who don’t want to be in California? I’ll let you know if there’s another one coming down the pipe there.

13:36 Thank you.

13:37 You bet.

13:38 Thank you.

13:42 Now, let’s go back to Virginia Beach in the Virginia area there. Did you grow up in Virginia, though?

13:48 We might as well say I grew up because I’m a Brooklyn girl. I was born in Brooklyn, but my mother quickly moved us out of there around when I was 7 years old. So, pretty much we’ve been in Virginia since then. And I played basketball in high school in the river high school. The Braves where London Morning attended. We played on the same we played the same time. He was the allar on the boys and I was the allar on the girls. I got a full scholarship to Elizabeth City for my basketball skills. So Virginia. Yeah. I got my name down there.

14:24 So you played at the same school as Alonzo Morning.

14:28 Yeah, Alonzo Morning. We rode on the same athletic bus. We got dropped off at the same spot to go home. We, you know, hey, that’s just Lonzo. That’s Zo. We call him Zo.

14:38 Oh, yeah. I remember Zo. He was quite the player. Now, you said you were kind of his counterpart on the girls team. What was it like being in your high school and you guys being, I guess, for lack of a better word, the king and queen of the court—

14:52 Right? It was cool. It was good. I, you know, I was out there having fun all in. And it felt good. It’s so good. I still play basketball right now to this day.

15:01 That’s awesome. That is awesome. Now, tell us about how your basketball skills and on the court led you to a scholarship. Is that right?

15:11 Yeah. They led me to a scholarship with Elizabeth City State University. Yep. So, basketball skills is good. It’s good to play sports and get involved at school because it give you that people. Like right now, I’m a people’s person. So, it has you involved. It brings out, you know, skills for as if you want to do a business because it gives you to get out there and play in front of people. You, you know, I played in the CIAA, of course, that was the city was the CIAA. So, it gives you courage and all that stuff like that. So, it made me who I am right now today. I really enjoy it.

15:47 Talk a little bit about how playing basketball reinforces team building.

15:52 Right. So, so that’s good right there. I thought you was about to challenge me in some basketball. I was listening to you. It sound like you was trying to go in that direction. I was like, I don’t think you really want to do that.

16:04 No, I was talking, you know, more about in life were you—

16:07 I know. I know. But right now, it kind it really, you know, with Norton, people ride together like three or four people ride on a team together. And normally with me, I’m always a team leader. For some reason they just oh Deanna you go ahead you leave you know the route you know with gas you know when to stop you know when we can get breath food you know when we can get and I really don’t know all of this stuff is just that they put me in front so I just have to sometimes be out here with four people and that’s a big responsibility because you got four people got to stop and use the bathroom four people got to eat four people tanks got to get filled you got to make sure nobody went of gas because when you got people following behind you, they not looking at that gas thing. They just following you. Some of them don’t even have on the navigation. They just following you.

16:59 So, you got to be a leader and you got to, you know, make sure you call everybody and what’s going on with your gas. What’s going on with you? You got to use the bathroom. You ready to eat? You need to stop, stretch your legs, your back all right. So, it put you in it and I’m kind of easy with it. And I really don’t mind being a leader because I like I’ve been a leader, you know, the basketball, been a leader of that squad. So, it’s I kind of like feel good out here. My hands, you know, I be people eyes in my hand when they following you because like I say, they really don’t pay attention to their gas and they really don’t pay attention to that. We just passed the gas station.

17:36 Right. Right. Right. I could see how that would happen, but you kind of said something I wanted to kind of talk a little bit more about. How did you was there any adaptation or did it come naturally to assume the role of a leader?

17:48 It just came naturally once I got you know like you say back in high school. So I you know I was a captain of the team like in seventh grade. So being that I just grew up being a captain all the time. That’s the road that I know to take. I just don’t know no other way. And then I’m know how to talk to people. So and then you know of course over the years I’ve been a coach of a basketball team. So just it’s easy. Is fun. You know, everybody ain’t everybody out here I ain’t going to listen to you or they got their own opinion. But I kind of like put everybody back in perspective and we just roll with it. But it’s hard out here on this road rolling with, you know, females. You know, females, we are hard to get along with.

18:29 No, it is.

18:29 Some of them are very difficult. Some of them I’m like, “Okay, you got to get off the team. I just can’t I can’t deal with you. We do. We have that, too.”

18:38 That’s too funny. That is too funny. Now, I did want to ask you about that. I mean, we’ve been, as I said at the very beginning of Six-Figure Trucker brought to you by Norton Transport. We’ve got Deanna Kearney with us here this evening. We were talking about, you know, we talked to several guys and we’re trying to talk to more women who are in the business. Do you guys talk among yourselves about the trials, the struggles, the victories, the accomplishments? Do you guys talk a lot about that? Yeah, we talk about it’s a couple girls out here that we talk about how Norton is allowing us to be able to make the money and you know I would never leave Norton but Norton is opening up the gateway for you know you to start your own business they offer a lot of opportunities so we talk about the opportunity that we’re being offered to and then of course we got kids at home so we talk about our family life a lot you know when we stop and we just chalk it up you know it’s a lot of emotional you know, out here cuz we got you got wives out here.

19:41 I’m not married, but being single, it’s kind of hard to start a relationship when you’re out here on the road, but I’m good with it. But, yeah. So, we sit back and we talk about family and the roads and success stories and making it through the night through some country roads and stuff like that. And you be proud that you did it, proud that you made a 15 one day and sixh hour drop. You proud when you get to the end of it and you did it and everything. Yeah.

20:11 Now you were talking about being single and it was it’s difficult. How many days, hours, weeks, months do you spend on the road?

20:24 You know, again, Norton has allowed and I just chalk it up to Norton. Big up to Norton. You know, they pay good and everything. So, believe it or not, I may come out here for eight days out of the month, then the rest of the time I’m sitting home—

20:36 Right now. I kind of it kind of opened my eyes to the style of driver that Deanna Kearney is when you ran those two back-to back runs to Anaheim, what would you consider if you were describing yourself? You know, there’s different types of drivers. Would you call yourself a runner? Are you a runner? A runner—

21:00 Right?

21:01 You said a runner. Yeah. Yeah. I’m a runner.

21:05 You enjoy the open road, right?

21:07 I enjoy the open road. It’s so good. And then when I got to the drop, the guys are so friendly down there in Anaheim. They so friendly at the drop. One of them gave me a ride to the airport, which was nice. You know, I’m pulled over already. That’s just an ambulance passing by.

21:23 Okay.

21:23 But I’m at the stadium. I just haven’t got out yet. It’s so pretty. But anyway, so then when I got to my flight was cancelled and it’s amazing how since my flight was cancelled, they called me a cab which I thought was to take me over to Los Angeles airport. That has never happened. So I get you get to experience different things. So a cab me all the way to the other airport so that I can make my flight. I thought that was amazing.

21:50 But yeah, I would call myself a runner.

21:52 How rewarding is it to see that kind of kindness in total strangers? I mean, you didn’t know these people.

21:59 I didn’t know them. I sure didn’t. But my second route out there, you get to know them. Oh, yo, you back. Hey, you back and all this and all that. And they was like, “Well, we’re going that way if you want to get a ride.” So, I was like, “Okay.” So, they gave me a ride on to the airport.

22:15 Do you see that much out there in the driveaway land? I mean, in your other deliveries that you make, your pickups, your deliveries, do you see that kind of kindness out there? Are people going the extra mile?

22:27 I feel the kind of kindest because now that I’ll be going some of the same routes, I even know the Uber driver personally.

22:35 Oh, that’s—

22:36 And so they— Yeah, they’ll bring something for me. One of them bought me a plate of food because they knew they was coming. You get their phone number, oh, okay, I’mma be in town in like five hours. I got you, Deanna. They come on and pick you up. They bring you stuff, water, you know, they bring you one of them stop and they’ll make extra stops for you. You got to use the bathroom before you get to the airport. I know you’re tired and they stop you off here, stop you off to eat and they, you know, wait for you and everything, you know. So—

23:03 I would say—

23:04 You just need to people.

23:05 I know you’re going to be modest on this, but I would say this kind of kindness that’s been turned to you is a reflection of the kind of kindness you turn to other people. I mean—

23:15 Okay.

23:16 I mean, do you see it that way?

23:18 Well, yeah. That’s what they say.

23:20 That’s what they say. Karma, you get what you put out. That’s right. That’s right.

23:24 And I’m sitting right here on the side of the road. I done turned my dump truck off. I got a big old nice dump truck. I turned it off and I put the windows down and boy, the mosquitoes is turning me up. Oh my. Oh my god. I got bumped. Oh my god. I might have to put the window back up.

23:44 That’s— Yeah. Do what you got to do. You got to be comfortable out there. Now you’re going back to Virginia. Now, that’s going to be let’s see what is that 3 4 days out.

23:55 Yeah, Monday. They don’t open up on Saturdays and Sundays. That’s the place open Monday. So, I drop it off Monday morning.

24:01 Now, will you have some quote unquote downtime with the family?

24:05 Oh, when I get to Virginia, yeah, because you know, I don’t have to be in that, you know, nor is your own business, you know. So, when I get to Virginia, drop off Monday. I’mma stay Monday night, Tuesday night, and up Norton is going to get me a car, a rental car to make it back to Atlanta on Wednesday, which I chose to come back Wednesday. And then I just drive my rental car back to Atlanta.

24:27 Gotcha.

24:27 Wednesday, which I don’t have to drive way back if I don’t want to because they have another pickup in Virginia, which I can pick up in Virginia and take it on out somewhere. But I’m going to come on home because I have a 17-year-old that I need to spend time with because school is about to start.

24:40 I got you. What are you going to do in those two nights up in Virginia? I mean, you just going to chill. Since I only have one family member, and I’m sorry for cutting you off. I just know you. Since I only have one family member, I spend time with that one family member that I claim.

24:57 And then I’mma hit the beach. I’mma hit the beach. You know, they got a Virginia Beach. I’mma hit the beach. I’m a beach person. And so, I’ll be hitting the beach.

25:06 I heard that. I can relate to that. I mean, is it the what about the beach attracts you to it? Is it the feel, the whole I mean, what about the beach really pulls you in?

25:16 The sunset. It’s the sunset. Just sitting out on the benches looking at the sunset and the waves like gushing and you can hear the waves like hitting each other and it’s the during the daytime it’s definitely not the sun, but it’s the atmosphere of everybody walking up and down the strip. Like Virginia Beach has a good strip. Everybody walks up and down the strip and everything, but I was out in Jacksonville dumping a load off out there a couple weeks ago and I didn’t know that Jacksonville had a beautiful beach. That beach is beautiful.

25:47 Mhm. I think that’s Ponte Vedra, maybe. Jacksonville Beach. There’s a couple of—

25:53 I think that’s the name of it. It’s a couple of them. They right there together. It’s a couple of them. That’s my first time out there. Thank God. Thank you for knowing Big Up. But I walked that beach and it I walked that beach and it was nice. You know, Jacksonville doesn’t have a boardwalk, but the sand is beautiful. The sand is beautiful. You walking that it’s beautiful.

26:13 Now, let me ask you this question. Let’s say someone’s walking down the beach in Virginia Beach and they see Deanna—

26:20 And they bump into Deanna. And would you be walking or would you be on one of those beach chair service chairs, have your own chair? What would be your kind of vibe there?

26:31 Kind of vibe. I’ll be walking that person, then I’mma go on over there and get one of those beach bikes and I’m going to ride up and down the strip.

26:37 So, you’re active. You stay pretty active.

26:39 Stay pretty stay active. Now, down Virginia Beach, I probably wouldn’t find nobody that pretty much knows me because the locals don’t do the beach—

26:48 Right? Gotcha. That’s weird. That’s weird.

26:51 Right.

26:52 Now, the question—

26:53 They don’t do the beach that much. The question I was going to ask, if Deanna is walking the beach, riding on a bike on the beach, or sitting in a chair, what are we going to find inside Deanna’s drink container?

27:09 Some water.

27:12 Okay, now—

27:14 Some water. You might find some water. For the last past two weeks. We might find some water because I gave up drinking beer. Okay.

27:27 Ago.

27:28 Okay. Okay.

27:29 Yeah. Just gave up drinking beer. Try to get rid of this little gut. It’s not much. Everybody keep saying, “Oh, you ain’t got nothing.” But I know for myself to me it’s not where I want to be. So, you know, I gave up drinking beer and gave up drinking hard liquor. So, the only thing I drink is wine now.

27:48 Okay. Okay. What? How hard was it to give up drinking beer and liquor?

27:52 Easy.

27:53 It was easy.

27:54 It’s only been two weeks.

27:55 So, it’s been easy so far.

27:56 It’s only been two weeks. It’s been easy so far. The only thing is my friends like, “Oh, have a beer. Have a be like.” No. And then they have a beer. That’s the only hard thing. Then you got to hit them upside the head like I said no.

28:12 That’s too funny.

28:13 But it’s a easy when I decided to give up eating meat, it’s been 10 years now. So, I gave up eating meat just like that. So—

28:21 Now you said you still have a glass of wine here and there.

28:23 Yeah, I’m going have a glass of wine here and there.

28:32 Now, what you’re on the road, you’ve been out, let’s say Anaheim’s a good example. How do you get yourself back in the right frame of mind after you’ve been on the road for I believe that was a 275 mile run? Now, of course, you had the flight coming back. What kind of state of mind are you in after you’ve been on the road for that long?

28:52 Well, you come home and the first thing I want to do was take a long bath, go see my chiropractor, get my back in line. Then I just get back in and relax around the house for one whole day just to get you got to get your mind back right into okay, you got to, you know, to reality. You really it really takes you away. So when you get back you think, “Oh, okay. Oh yeah, dang. It’s a sandwich I left in the refrigerator. It should be molded by now.” So you really have to get tuned back into back at home life and get things situated and get back to reality. And you have to do it fast cuz time waits for nobody, you know. And you have kids at the house that 17 year old is like, “Okay, mom, now it’s time to do something with me.”

29:44 So, you definitely got to get your body right. You definitely I tell everybody, you got to take care of your body. You got to take your eat your beats, get your blood running because you sitting for the like seven hours that you drive and then you take your breaks and then you got to take 10-hour break. That’s fine, but you still have to get your vitamins, get your water intake. You got to get home and you got to do your stretches. You got to do your stuff. You got to work out. You got to get yourself back together. So, that’s basically what I do. I hit the plan of fitness for a couple hours. Even though I can hit the plan of fitness outside on the road, that’s why I join. That’s, you know, I can take three showers and everything. So, that helps me a lot out there on the road.

30:24 Gotcha. Gotcha. That sounds like a smart plan. Now, you’ve talked about getting your body right and getting your mind right, but wanted to kind of drill down on getting your mind right. Two questions here. How do you get your mind right after you’ve made a big run? And how do you get your mind right when you’re making a big run?

30:43 Before you make the big run or while you’re in the big run?

30:47 While you’re in the truck?

30:49 While you’re in the big run. First of all, you get your run. You know, my girl Courtney Chuck it up to my dispatcher the best. But anyway, oh, she’ll call me and say, “Hey, I got to run out to California.” So right then and there you get yourself right. You say, “Okay, I’m about to make a California run.” That’s a day and eight hours. Well, really a day and 13 hours cuz you add more hours on because you got to stop and your truck. So two days. So you get your mind right into setting like, “Okay, I’m about to get on this road for about 3 days.” So you know your hours, so you know your hours, so you know what you’re about to do. You get your sleep before you take off. You get your vitamins in your bag. You get your mental state, right? You get your water. You get your most important things for the road trip because you know you’re gonna be out there. You know where you’re going through Mexico and Nevada, all them states.

31:42 Well, it’s very hot. And you know, regardless if you got AC, you still ride on a long, you know, you got to ride on a long road that you’re not going to see nothing for a while. So, you pretty much get yourself right for that. You prepare yourself. You know and what I do is while I’m on the road, there’s a lot of stuff you can think about, you know. Yeah. I’m thinking about life. I’m thinking about my daughter at 17, which route she’s going. Is she on the right path? And so, pretty much, you know, you just you get yourself right. You get your talking partner. You say, “Okay, I can talk to this person in the daytime and this person at night.” You know, you set yourself up for success and then it’ll be all right and then you can make it. You talk about your partners you talk with at day and night. Does that— Yeah. How much does that help to let the miles just roll by?

32:36 That’s help that help a lot.

32:38 Conversation. It helps a lot when somebody else on the road and they like, “Oh, I’m over here.” Yeah. You know they out there and you out there. You’re not alone. Even though they might be hundreds of miles from you, but you just feel as though you feel safe. You don’t feel alone. It don’t help when you talk to that one family member that’s yawning on the phone.

32:58 You’re ready to stay awake and they’re not helping you out—

33:02 Right? You’re like, “Okay, I got to go.” You can hear them yawn. Yawning is very contagious and you don’t want to be talking yawning—

33:09 Right? Let’s talk about, you were talking about a lot of things you think about when you’re on the road. You had mentioned your daughter. Do you think about the same type things when you’re on these long road trips or are the thoughts varying? Are they different?

33:25 They vary because you get bored thinking about the same. Me personally, I don’t like to spend too much time on one thing. You know, I’m a runner. Like you said, I’m a runner. So, I’m not going to spend all day just thinking about whether or not I’m being a good parent to her and am I doing the right thing and all of that. You pretty much think about it and then you pray about it and you move on to something else. That’s me. Gotcha. Now, I don’t want to get too I mean, you’d be the judge if we were getting too much into private life, but with a 17-year-old daughter, is it hard the time you spend on the road away from her?

33:59 Yeah, it’s hard spending time away from her when she listening to me. But when she’s not listening, I want to get away.

34:09 So, when she being good, I want to be okay. D I miss her. But when she being, you know, 17 year old, they got that mouth. They don’t have no filter now. Some, you know, some of them just, you know, they say whatever they want to say. She’s not that fast. She’s not fancy to me at all like that. But, you know, her mouth can be a little teeny bit off. And, you know, so I’ll be on that road as a relief. It gives me a little a time away from her so that I won’t get in no trouble with the law.

34:36 Gotcha. So, I’m doing the math here. She is she a rising senior? Will be a senior next year? She’s—

34:44 Well, you know, with the co theme, my daughter kind of she’s very smart. Very smart. And she knows school. School is very boring to her and she don’t see the reason why people go to school. Yeah. She’s one of those type because it’s like, okay, I can just go out here and start. School really don’t do nothing for you. But, you know, you got to get that diploma. All right. You got to get it. So, she kind of like slacked off during that little COVID phase when they had to go online. So, she gonna have another year added on to her. Yeah—

35:11 I got you. But that it sounds like from what I’m hearing, reading between the lines, that’s something you’ve been reinforcing in her.

35:20 Yeah, definitely have to because I really understand the fact about school and how school is very important, but I can understand that, you know, hey, the things that they’re doing, the diploma is what matters. So, we got to get that. We got to get that regardless of the curriculum and what they’re teaching and all that. We still got to we got to get the diploma.

35:41 Gotcha. Now, you told us about you were a school bus driver before coming on with Norton. How long have you been driving what would be considered, I guess, a big truck, including a school bus?

35:56 I would say I’ve been driving since right out of high school.

35:59 Oh, wow.

36:00 Yep. Because I work now I work I’ve always worked in the mentally challenged field with the mentally challenged kids so and back then when I started working it was called institution so I’ve always been transporting people back and forth to their doctor’s offices and to their to activities so I’ve always been in there ran a couple group homes up in Silver Spring so that’s why I like taking them trips to Silver Springs, Maryland. I get to see a couple old heads that I used to live with back on back in Silver Springs and Capitol Heights, Maryland. But so I’ve always been in the transportation building along with the hands on as working in the institutions and then I came here and worked for a private school in Atlanta. I drove the school bus for them.

36:47 So transportation has always been and then I’ve always soon as I finished high school, I moved out of Virginia. So I’m always traveling back home to Virginia. So the road has— So people now they see that I’m doing this, they’re not shocked. They’re like, “Okay, yeah, that makes sense.”

37:05 It makes sense for the people that know you—

37:07 Right? The ones that know me, cuz I’m always on the road.

37:10 What attracts you about the road, about transportation? What is it that has that magnetic appeal to you?

37:17 It’s just out here. You get to vibe with yourself and get in tune with your with yourself and God. I listen to a lot of jazz. New Orleans jazz. You get listen to your music and pretty much it’s just it’s good because I have a 27 year old but she’s straight actually my 27 year old drive for Norton also Kia Lawrence let me get to my daughter I got her on so yeah so Kia that’s my daughter if you didn’t know she’s driving also—

37:44 That’s great we got two in the fold that’s fantastic—

37:49 She get pretty good loads and she love it because you know when she was young with me we was out on the road together driving back and forth at home so I guess I put it in her blood.

37:59 That’s fantastic. I did want to ask you one question here. You said New Orleans jazz. Louisie Armstrong. Who do you like?

38:07 I don’t know the names of people. I like Shade, you know, even though she don’t do jazz, but her music is like that. I like what is his name? Billy, somebody of course Kenny G. But I like that that New Orleans stuff. I don’t know name, but I know Louis do that New Orleans. But I that’s why I was listening on before she called. I was like, I believe I can listen to my jazz and do the iPod.

38:31 There you go. So, how much do you listen to? A lot of jazz when you’re on the road. Do you mix it up? I mean—

38:37 I listen to a lot of jazz with no music. With no words when I’m on the road. Yeah.

38:42 Gotcha. No interruptions, just you and the music.

38:46 Just me and the music.

38:47 Now, what kind of system do you have? Do you have it where you interface it with whatever the truck is off your phone? How do you work it?

38:54 Pandora. It’s all— Yeah. I just hooked the Pandora up and the Pandora is just playing through the speaker.

39:00 Nice. That’s got to make the miles fly by, too.

39:03 Yeah, that makes the miles go, too, cuz the jazz is really nice.

39:07 Gotcha. Now, we’ve talked a little bit about I think, you know, each time we do one of these conversations with a driver. Of course, this is the Six-Figure Trucker brought to you by Norton Transport. Deanna Kearney joining us on this episode. I’ve talked to a number of truck drivers. You guys all have the greatest stories out there. Share with us what’s the craziest thing that’s happened to you since you’ve been out on the road. I know there’s some I’ve talked to a couple of other drivers just this week and they were sharing some stories with me. They’re great stories because you guys are you’re right there hands-on. So, give us a crazy story that’s happened to Deanna.

39:42 And I got to think a crazy story. Oh, man. What is a crazy story? No, I can’t share the crazier story. No, I can’t share that one. You got to use the bathroom. It ain’t no bathroom around. I ain’t going to share that one.

39:55 You got to be resourceful. You got to be resourceful. You got to do—

39:58 You got to be resourceful.

39:59 Hey, when nature calls, nature calls, you got to answer.

40:03 Ain’t nothing there’s nothing you can do.

40:08 Oh my god. Let me see. Other than I can’t even think. I can’t think right now. You know, I’m out here on this road, right? I’m pulled over, so I can’t even think. I can’t even think.

40:18 Let me ask it a different way. Not the craziest. What about the scariest thing that’s ever happened to you?

40:23 Oh man, the scariest would be almost running out of gas—

40:27 On the road not timing it and almost and the light come on and you ain’t you got a whole lot of miles to go to a gas station and you back down the road by yourself. That has happened and you just in your car just— Oh my god. Oh my god. Oh my god. I done pulled over and just prayed.

40:46 Have you ever run out of fuel? No, no, no, no, no, no, no. Uhuh. I know a couple of my drivers, not with me, but a couple of them that has something that called me and they like, “Girl, you ain’t gonna believe it.” I’m like, “Oh, man.” No, I do not ever want to do that one. No.

41:04 It’s one of those things though, you talk about it. I mean, and we know how driveaway works. It’s for you for one of your girls or one of your drivers that, you know, let you know they ran out of fuel. That’s something that’s it’s not that hard to believe. I mean, it can happen.

41:18 Yeah, it can happen. You time it. You know, you know, normally the drivers, they say they got it pretty much down to the nitty-gritty when the light come on, you know, they think they got like 80 something more miles to go, you know, before they can pull over. So, they kind of like time it and they only up the road like 50 miles and oops, you didn’t time it. I could die driving different vehicles, you know, where the truck I’m in a dump truck right now. I don’t drive the same as a dumper truck.

41:51 Right. Right. What’s your rule of thumb? When do you say I mean obviously you got a load plan, you’ve got it laid out, particularly when you did that CNG route, but let’s talk about more conventional fuel. When do you decide it’s like, okay, I’m getting in the danger zone. At what point?

42:09 When I see my light come on, I start getting nervous right then and there. And then these new vehicles, it flashes. Blam, blam, bloom. The red is flashing all over the dashboard. And then you know that’s scaring me right now. It’s time. And it makes stopping on the spot getting gas right there. I’m stopping.

42:28 But then sometimes you mount your little gas thing out because you know you can do it in your map. You can say the nearest gas station and you the nearest gas station coming on up. At 2:00 in the morning, you get there, they closed.

42:41 That has happened a lot. Gas stations be closed.

42:45 That’s got to be frustrating.

42:46 Yeah. Very frustrating. So now I’m, you know, then I get back on the road, but I’m looking immediately. I don’t even go with that. Soon as my light come on, I’m looking.

42:54 One thing we’ve talked about with a number of drivers, and it’s hard not to talk about life on the road, driving a truck without talking about fuel. How are you personally managing and calling the shots when it comes to the fuel? I mean, fortunately, at least in the last month, it’s coming down, but of course, it doesn’t come down as fast as it goes up, but how do you manage it?

43:19 Well, Lord gives you money as soon as you pick up your load. So, you get your gas money and you pretty much know your miles where you going. So it’s either you won’t fill it up if you’re only going five hours. Know how many miles you need. So you pretty much know by the gallon how much gas you should put in. So I pretty much put that gas on in there what I need to make it to the next spot. It’s not always right, but I try to put it in there.

43:53 Thanks for joining us here, Deanna Kearney.

43:55 Oh, no. No problem.

43:56 Absolutely. On the Six-Figure Trucker. This is going to be keeping your mind right, getting your mind right with the roadrunner, Deanna Kearney. You know, this is this podcast is called the Six-Figure Trucker. And—

44:12 Has the trucking industry been good to you financially?

44:16 Six figure. That’s exactly what you just said. Six figures.

44:20 That’s the name of it.

44:22 That’s what I’m making. Six figures. It’s been good. Bank account looking good. I got designer clothes in my closet.

44:30 How do you pull it off? I mean, I said, how do you pull it off? It’s not true across the board for everyone. I mean, I would think that it takes some smart decisions.

44:39 Yeah. I mean, I done helped a couple family members out start their business up, you know, they pay me back. I paid a couple friend cards off and was getting repo. They paid me back. So, I mean, I mean, I love my bank account, like I say, you know. Hey—

44:53 How—

44:54 I love it. How rewarding and I guess comforting is it to know that you’ve got that money, you’ve got that lifestyle, and more importantly than that that you can help out friends and family.

45:08 Right. You say high rewarding. It mean I’m trying to see is it rewarding because now I don’t even care if I get married. I’m pretty much self. You got everything you need right there in front of you.

45:26 That’s it. But it feels good. It feels good that I can, you know, be able to help the ones out that I want to that I know that will pay me back. And it feels good that, you know, I’m in a position whereas I could, you know, I’mma stay with— No, like I say, but I’m in a business of trying to, you know, start my own business and, you know, I could do that—

45:46 Right now. You know, I not again, not to get too personal, but let’s talk a little bit about life on the road, a single woman, dating, and but also you’re financially stable. You’re very secure in that. Does that all come together? I mean, it’s like as far as do you want to date or not necessarily?

46:05 Oh, yeah. Do I want to date? Yeah, I want to date. Currently, I’m an online dater. So, you know, I’m online dating. I’m all over the place and I love that. I love that. I love that. So, you know, if I’m somewhere and he’s somewhere, I can meet him and have dinner or and meet him and see because, you know, my child is 17. Soon, she’ll be, you know, on her own. So, you know, it’s time for me to see which direction that, you know, I want to go to allows me different people and allows me to see what I want to do and really make a good decision. I don’t have to jump into nothing. And you know way and where the lines cross here as far as your daughter about to go out on her own there and you being in a sense to have a new—

46:48 I guess degree of freedom because of the income and the lifestyle you’ve been able to generate working with Norton Transport. Have you got some dreams out there in front of you as far as what’s the next chapter of Deanna’s life going to look like?

47:02 I definitely do. Definitely. What I’m going to do is because of, you know, because of the figures that I’m making. Six figure trucking. I’m going towards a condo. I’mma live in a one bed condo, a high-rise is, you know, I ain’t got to cut grass no more. So, I see myself living in luxury for a while. You know, downtown Atlanta and live it up and I’mma be able to travel. I’m about to go to Jamaica. So, I see myself doing a doing everything that I, you know, really wanted to do or want, you know. Now, you said that condo is going to be in downtown Atlanta.

47:35 It’s going to be probably in downtown Atlanta or over there off of Morland Avenue or over there where the new condos are at.

47:42 I got you. I got you. Had you given any thought to a condo on the beach?

47:47 No.

47:48 No.

47:49 Too expensive.

47:51 I That might be too expensive. And then— No. The weather.

47:57 What about— What attracts you to Atlanta? I mean, a lot of people are really drawn to Atlanta. What about you specifically draws you to it?

48:05 I like the cultural vibe of Atlanta. Yeah, it makes me feel okay. Like history because there’s a lot I don’t know. So, you learn a lot in Atlanta. They have a lot of shows. They have a lot of jazz shows. The parks the food is good.

48:21 Gotcha. Gotcha. Gotcha. All right. We’re going to wrap it up here on the Six-Figure Trucker. Okay. Brought to you by Norton. What you got to say to him.

48:28 Oh yeah, that’ll be great. But I wanted to ask you this one question. I want to let you take us out here getting your mind right with the Roadrunner Deanna Kearney. For people that drive big trucks and people who don’t, what would your advice be to get your mind right?

48:48 Anything to get your mind right. First of all, you got to be in tune with God. And that’s, you know, you got to have a you got to have a sense of stability. You just can’t be out here running around just doing whatever you want to do. You got to have a sense of some common sense to get you get your mind right with God. Get it right path and just follow your dream. Just and then whatever you whatever it is that your vision is, just stick to it. Stick to your vision and work it out. Write it out and go for it. That’s what I did. You know—

49:20 You just said that’s what you did. And you mentioned dreams. Are your dreams coming true for you?

49:26 My dreams are definitely coming true and I’m glad I’m with a great family company because I’ve worked with other companies and but this company I feel the family vibe so I feel real comfortable with Norton.

49:38 Well, we feel comfortable with you too, Deanna Kearney. Thank you for joining us tonight on the Six-Figure Trucker and I’m glad that the road’s been kind to you and people on the road have been kind to you. And after your next run, you’re going to Chesapeake. Is that right?

49:54 Chesapeake, Virginia.

49:56 So, I got to ask you this one last question. I’m sure you get asked this question all the time. Is Virginia truly for lovers?

50:03 Virginia is for lovers. Definitely is beautiful.

50:07 Virginia is very beautiful.

50:09 Well, Deanna Kearney, thank you so much for joining us and be safe out there on the road. Be careful and get your mind.

50:16 No doubt. Thank you for choosing me.

50:18 All right. Have a good evening. I love you, too. Bye-bye.

50:24 Six-Figure Trucker is brought to you by Norton Transport. Norton Transport is a driveaway trucking company that customers can rely on. It offers excellent independent contract driving opportunities to professional, courteous, and qualified drivers that can provide the kind of service we deliver. If you’re interested in learning more about Norton or just want to subscribe to the show, check out Six-FigureTrucker.com. That’s Six-FigureTrucker.com.