00:04 And I’ll never forget it because he had this little ad in the paper and it asked three questions. Do you like to drive? Do you like to have fun? And do you like to make money? And I thought, my god, I’m in. I’ve got to call this person. Let’s go. You thought yes, yes, and yes, yes, yes, and yes. Yeah.

00:24 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.

00:44 Hello everyone and welcome to the Six-Figure Trucker brought to you by Norton Transport. This is a podcast where we elevate and celebrate the drivers that move all over the country, move the trucks that move the products that come to you. And it’s a time to lift them up for everything they do. And we have a very, very special guest with us tonight, a person by the name of Rowdy Lind, Lind Like Wind. And he is, I guess you could say, an alumnest of the Norton Transport family. Rowdy, how are you?

01:16 I’m doing very good, thank you very much. Now, Rowdy tell us, let’s start at the beginning. You go way back in the history of Norton Transport and tell us of how you came to be at Norton Transport. Very, very cool story.

01:32 Well, I started in June of 2001 and so Calvin actually put together a group of drivers up here in Iowa. We were, I guess you could say, Norton Transport’s first expansion. And I’ll never forget it because he had this little ad in the paper and it asked three questions. Do you like to drive? Do you like to have fun? And do you like to make money? And I thought, my god, I’m in. I’ve got to call this person. Let’s go.

02:01 You thought yes, yes, and yes—

02:03 Yes, yes, and yes. Yeah, yeah. I mean, I always love driving, always loved going places. I thought, oh my god, I could actually get paid to do this. So, I called the phone. Who answers the phone but Mr. Calvin Norton and I guess you could say the rest is history.

02:17 Oh, that’s fantastic. When Calvin answered the phone, tell us about how your relationship blossomed from there.

02:24 Oh my gosh, Mr. Calvin Norton is like the older brother that I have never had. I mean, he’s family. He still is family to me. I can’t say how many great things that there is of Calvin Norton and the Norton family because I know them all. The late Johnny Norton, Jimmy Norton, Mr. Michael Norton, all of Norton Transport. I mean, all of us guys, I mean, that’s the way they treated all of us drivers as family, right from the beginning, right from the get-go.

02:53 Now, you go way back and you were talking about some names that are noteworthy, legendary within the Norton Transport family. And for those who may not know, Johnny Norton, Jimmy Norton are the brothers of Calvin Norton. Now, I believe the younger one was Johnny and he has passed away. Is that right?

03:12 Yes, sir. Unfortunately, I actually named the names there in chronological order as the order that I had met each and every one of them. But yeah, unfortunately Johnny had passed away a couple years ago. Calvin’s brother. Yes.

03:25 And of course, Michael Norton, his son. What has it been like for you? And you’re talking about Calvin being like the older brother you never had. As far as I’ve talked to Calvin, and Rowdy Lind’s name has come up, and he obviously remembers you fondly. Do you guys stay in contact?

03:43 Oh, most definitely. Like I said we may not talk on the phone, you know, month after month, but once or twice a year, we’ll make contact with one another. We’ll text one another. He’s a big Georgia Tech fan. So, when I see a big Georgia Tech game come up and whether it be basketball or football or something, I’ll send him a little text and say, “Oh, I saw the game.” Or, you know, “Sorry for the loss.” Or the same thing. I’m a University of Iowa alum and so when something happens with the Hawkeyes, he’ll send me a text back and forth and saying better luck next time or good job or if you know say Iowa’s playing some SEC team, he’ll say well good luck and I you know always keep my fingers crossed. You know, that’s funny you say that because I mean, I heard it from two sides, from Calvin last week and from you about the Iowa Hawkeyes, the women’s team and being in the Final Four and Caitlyn Clark, what a player.

04:46 Oh, just fantastic. I mean, she’s basically the Larry Bird, the Steph Curry of women’s basketball. And I’m talking both college and or pro. And I think there’s quite a few people that would agree. And yeah, Calvin sent me a text and said, “Hey, good luck in the final game.” And boy, that Caitlyn Clark, she’s something else.

05:05 Oh yeah. I mean, you talk about Caitlyn Clark, it’s like she’s in range at 35 ft—

05:11 Right? The logo lady, that’s what I call her.

05:14 Now, obviously that was a big night for you. We’re talking a that would have been last weekend. Iowa Hawkeyes women’s team up against South Carolina. And South Carolina hadn’t lost in like 40 something 40 something games. Number one team, undefeated, 36-0 or whatever it was going into that game of the Final Four game. Put us there. You’re watching now. Are you a Hawkeye alum?

05:37 Yes, most definitely. Yeah. Yeah.

05:40 What was that like watching that?

05:42 Oh my gosh. You know, it just brings tears to your eyes because, you know, here we are. We’re taking on, you know, it’s Goliath. You know, we’re trying to upset the biggest of the biggest. I mean, the South Carolina team is great and you know, I always have followed men’s basketball, Iowa football, and just through the years, you know, I’ll catch a game here or there of Iowa women’s basketball, but I mean, this year was just fantastic. I mean everybody in this state and in the Midwest region is just so excited about the Iowa Hockey women’s team. And actually, I just got a thing for Iowa alumni. They’re having to cease Iowa women’s season ticket sales right now because they’re not sure if there’s enough seats going to be in Carver Hawkeye Arena for the ticket sales next year. They don’t want to oversell the tickets. I believe the arena holds almost 20,000 people.

06:41 That’s a good problem to have. And as they say—

06:43 That’s a very good problem. Winning changes everything—

06:47 Right? Yes, most definitely.

06:49 Now, speaking of Iowa, I’m looking at the background you sent us here, the Iowa team. Tell us about the Iowa team, who they are and what they meant to you.

06:57 Well, Calvin had met Stan through driving on the road, and I’m just going to use first names on a firstname basis. And when Calvin was running buses and he had come and crossed paths with Stan who was actually originally from Nebraska and he was kind of going over in his mind Calvin was that okay I’m wanting to set up a team of drivers in Mount Pleasant where the manufacturing bluebird plant is at there and so standing him and then kind of went over it over the next say three months, six months. It was quite a while that they were planning this and then like I said they put the ad in the paper and then I met guys like Ed and Dan and Richard Frank and Doug. Ed was a school longtime school teacher Burlington Iowa retired. Dan ran his own business there in Minneapolis Iowa a fertilizer business and Richard is a farmer still is. Frank was a retired owner of a grocery store.

07:59 And then Doug is just a running buddy of mine and also work part-time in farming.

08:05 Now when you think about that and you can sit there and rattle off the names of all these guys that the Iowa team and of course you had the Georgia team and what you said there that kind of caught my ear was the ad in the paper. Here we are in 2023 which it would never happen an ad in the paper now. But when you think about it nostalgically how does that hit you? It’s like this all came from just something in the classifides.

08:31 Right. Right. And what’s really strange about that is I never read the paper in the classified ads because a lot of times, you know, those can kind of be the worst of the worst jobs—

08:42 Right? You know, and so I had just come off of being the manager, actually ended up being the general manager of the first crispy cream doughnut shop in the state of Iowa and actually in the upper Midwest there in De Mo, Iowa. And I just it was just too many hours. I just didn’t care for it. I told the owners that if I’m going to work 70 or 80 hours a week, my name’s going to be on the door, right? And so so I thanked them very much for the time and the experience and the blessings that that they bestowed on me. But then so I actually moved back home to southeast Iowa and lived with my parents, moved in with my parents. I always tell people my you have their spare bedroom and my junk is in their basement. And thought that well I’ll look for a job. Maybe I can find one around here. If not, I’m going to move back to Nashville, Tennessee, and probably get back into the music business. And so, I see this little ad, and like I said earlier, do you want do you like to drive?

09:45 Do you like to have fun? Do you like to make money? And I was like, yeah, yeah. And yeah, you know, and then actually when I took the job after talking to Calvin, I thought, you know, I’ll probably do this a year or two, probably get very bored and then move back to Nashville. But yet, I’m still driving. That’s not the way it worked out there. Now, how long did you drive? And will you say you’re still driving?

10:10 Yeah, it’s, you know, there it’s up to 22 years now. And I tell people that I’ve driven to, through, and around every city and state in the lower 48 more times than I can count and or remember.

10:23 I like the way that rhymes there. You work that together there nicely. Now, do you still have your CDL license?

10:29 Yes, I do. Yes, I’ve got a Class B. That that’s all the further that I went. I didn’t want to drive the big semis with the trailer. I didn’t mind driving the actual truck itself, the tractor. But, if you give me a million dollars and say, “Can you drive then can you back that rig up that trailer up?” There’s no way. My brother can do it blindfolded, but me, I could spend the next 365 days trying to figure out how to back that up, that trailer up. I can’t do— It’s a different animal with a trailer on there.

11:02 Correct.

11:02 So, what was your last run?

11:05 I still I run buses for another company and it’s just very very part-time because I’ve been at home a lot more than I that I’d like to be just because of some personal things that that’s happened around my with my family here and that sort of stuff. But I God I can’t even remember what my last Norton run was. I know boy I just can’t remember. You’re listening to Rowdy Lind up in Iowa joining us here on the Six-Figure Trucker brought to you by Norton Transport. And if you’re just joining in on this episode, Rowdy goes way back and back in the days of Norton in its infancy stages and still stays in touch with the Norton family and the people that work inside and outside the building here.

11:59 Now, you mentioned in your background here your Southeastern Conference team and you listed off a lot of people that some people are still here. Talk about some of the people you still interact with, who you interacted with back then.

12:14 Okay, I’ll run through the list. I call it my SEC team, my Southeast Conference team. It was Dennis, and this is in chronological order. Dennis, Mackey, Jerry, Lynn, Victoria, Kenny, Curley, Earl, Jim, Mike, Jimmy, Mr. Albert, Randy, and Gary. And then there’s the other office personnel who was Rocky, Renee, Levi, Nicole, Mr. Gary Vee, Mike, and Kim. And still to this day, you know, Lynn and I will text back and forth. Like I said, I’m not going to say any last names, but she knows who I mean, and I love her. And dearly, still to this day. And Renee, oh my god, we go way back. Renee and I do. And Nicole. Then Mike and Kim were my last two dispatchers there. They there at Norton Transport. And yeah, we just had a ball. You know, you mentioned Renee there. I mean, funny story. This evening before we start got on the phone here and started this podcast. She came by my desk and I said, “Oh, you got to check this out.”

13:17 I got this from Rowdy Lind.” And she said, “Oh, really?” And she started reading. She goes, “Where’s my name?” And I said, “I hadn’t read the whole thing from beginning to end.” And I said, “Oh, there it is.” Renee was like, “He better say my name.””

13:31 You’re darn right. I better say her name. And I love Renee to death, too. I actually remember when Renee was pregnant with her first child, Hannah. So, I always keep tabs with her and Hannah. And I believe Hannah now is god, she’s probably a junior and I don’t know if she’s still running college track for the Mocs. I believe is the University of Chattanooga. I think—

13:54 You know more than I do and I work in the same building.

13:58 But that’s the family atmosphere. You know, we don’t lose touch with the people that we love and care about. You know, it’s a it’s more than friends and it’s more than co-workers. You know, it’s a family and it’s a team.

14:12 You know, you were talking about Lynn. Lynn has actually joined us on the podcast for those of you who have listened. Lynn is one of the longtime members here in Norton Transport. And you said you stay in touch with Lynn, I guess, on a regular basis.

14:25 Oh, I wouldn’t say it’s a regular basis anymore. It used to be and then I don’t know just kind of time and space and miles has got in between that. But you know a few times a year I’ll text her and she’ll text me back. Yeah. And we and literally Lynn and Victoria and I don’t know how many hundreds of thousands of miles that we rode together, but it’s a lot. And all over. All over.

14:48 Take us back on one of those trips.

14:51 Oh my gosh. Well, one time little start laughing. We made a delivery one time in Miami, Florida, and it was Lynn, Victoria, and I. We had unhooked, and it was later in the day, and normally I want to say it was a Thursday, and I’m talking this is a good probably 10 years ago, but anyway, we left Miami and I’m going to say it was maybe 3:4 in the afternoon. Lynn was driving first and it was Flash, her vehicle called Flash. And cuz she named all of her vehicles, but this was Flash, her little Suzuki that got like 40 miles a gallon. Just a great vehicle, wonderful tow vehicle. And so we’re heading down the road and we get it starts getting dark and Lynn says, you know, I can’t drive anymore. And we wanted to get back to LaFayette. We didn’t get a motel room. It was getting maybe it was a Friday or Thursday, I can’t remember, but they needed to be back for the weekend.

15:48 So then I drove for a while and then I Jen jumped into the passenger seat. Lynn was in the back sleeping and Victoria jumped up front and I told her I said, “Victoria,” I said, ” we’re like a couple hours away from this Flying J. Let me see what the gas gauge.” Yeah, we’re a little below a quarter of a tank. I know we’ll get there. The Flying J is just south of Jacksonville, Florida. I got you.

16:12 You pull in there and we’ll go get gas. So, usually the person that sits in the passenger seat tries to stay awake for the driver. And I told her, I says, “Boy, I’m getting a little tired, Victoria. It’s like probably 1 in the morning by now, maybe 2 or 3 in the morning.” And so, I fall off to sleep. Victoria said, “I’m fine. Don’t worry.” And she goes, ” the Flying J.” And I said, “Yep, Flying J. The exit will be on your right hand side.” And I gave her even the exit number. I can’t remember what that is today. But anyway, all of a sudden, out of the blue, which seemed 5 minutes later, but it was actually over an hour later, Victoria screaming at the top of her lungs. Oh my god. Oh my god. And poor Lyn jumps up out of the back seat. I think she thought we had a wreck or hit something. I didn’t know what was going on here. I’m just kind of in a daysaze just waking up. And she starts cussing me every way, but loose. We You said we’re going to make it. You said we’re going to make it. And I said, “Victoria, we made it.”

17:14 We literally ran out of gas as she pulled into the Flying J.” And she coasted up to the pump. That’s awesome. And we were— We literally were out of gas. And I said, “Victoria, relax. We made it. I told you we would make it.””

17:28 Exactly. Have faith in me.

17:31 Exactly. I know Relin remembers that story.

17:34 I’m sure she does. I’ll have to ask her about it Monday. Now, what kind of truck were you guys in? Where you coasted into the pump.

17:42 Actually, it was Lynn’s tow vehicle.

17:44 Oh. Oh, yeah. The—

17:45 Which she which he named Flash.

17:47 The Suzuki.

17:48 It was we had already made our bus delivery. I’m pretty sure it was at the port down in Miami. I got is where we originated at. And normally—

17:58 Cuz we stayed in Fort Lauderdale one time. I know we’ve stayed in Tampa on the beach there. We would stay an extra day if we had time. And neither one of them needed to be back or anything. And spend the day at the beach and then get a motel room and then leave the next morning. Yeah—

18:16 That’s the way to do it. And that’s part of the beauty of driveaway.

18:19 Oh, it’s a wonderful perk. I mean, you just can’t beat it. You’re your own boss. You make your own hours and the sky’s is the limit on what you can make. Literally, the sky’s is the limit.

18:30 Talk about that. You’re a veteran. You’ve done it many times. Still kind of dabbling in it. When you talk about the sky’s is the limit, what would you impart to other people who may be listening, thinking about it, people who may be already doing it and those who may be thinking about jumping into it?

18:48 Well, the first thing I’d tell you is it’s wonderful being an independent contractor. You’re your own boss. You set your own hours. You work when you want to work. And then literally the sky’s is the limit, you know, on the money that you want to make. And I realize this is the Six-Figure Trucker podcast. So you’ve got 70 hours a week that’s established by the DOT to get that done.

19:12 Believe me, it’s not that difficult. If you work hard, you know how to hustle and make the most out of your time. Six figures is easily within your grasp. It really is.

19:24 There’s a lot to be said for that on both counts.

19:26 Oh, most definitely. You know, it’s like I said earlier, I thought I would do this maybe for a year or two at the most. I wasn’t sure, you know, if I would enjoy driving all the time. I enjoy driving, you know, leisurely and going on my own vacations and personally, but I thought, you know, maybe doing this professionally, it could be a whole different ballgame. But it wasn’t. It wasn’t at all. And then literally there’s been many times my friends and I we’ve hit the six figures and like I said if time management is a big thing and then just hustle it, you know, you don’t have to work your head off. No, no, you take your time, you relax, you have a good time, you know, because you like I said, DOT mandates that you have to have your days off and your times off, but you can still do it. You know, you said something that we’ve heard from a number of successful drivers here on the Six-Figure Trucker. One thing we’ve heard from a lot of them is a plan.

20:30 You have to have a plan.

20:32 Oh yeah, definitely. Definitely a plan. Let me tell you the when my buddies and I when we’re at a motel, when we leave that motel, I can tell you exactly where it is that we’re going to go stop and eat, where we’re going to go stop and fuel, and where we’re going to end up at the end of the day. Whether it may not be to where we’re making the delivery, but I can tell you exactly where we’re going to what pillow we’re going to rest our head on or where at—

21:01 In driveaway. Why is it so important to have such a plan? Well, I think it just kind of goes back to that time management. You know, you’ve only got 24 hours in that day. So, you have to use, you know, every hour wisely. And you know, you don’t stop here, there, and everywhere. You know, there’s nothing wrong with stopping every 120 m, you know, every couple of hours to grab a drink or you know, hit the restrooms or whatever it is. And then we always we did a lot of our trips and planned them around different mom and pop restaurants around the country. Mr. Guy Fiery of Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives. We’ve stopped at many of those joints across the country. And it’s like I said that when we leave at whether that’s 600, 7, 8:00 in the morning, we know exactly where we’re going to be at and when we’re going to get there.

21:54 I would think that makes the miles fly by faster.

21:57 Oh, it does. It’s amazing. Yeah, it really does. That’s the amazing thing when you drive for eight, nine, 10, sometimes 11 hours a day. There’s days it’s like, “Oh my gosh, we just drove 560 miles, 620 mi. It didn’t even seem like it.”

22:13 Yeah.

22:14 And we’re there. We’re there at the motel and we’re watching ball game or whatever, me and my buddies. It’s just like, oh my gosh, you can’t beat this.

22:21 Yeah. And it’s like, did we just get paid to do this?

22:24 Yeah. Oh, exactly. Oh, yeah. Many moments like that. I well hundreds of moments like that.

22:32 Now, we were running down chronologically some of the quote unquote families you’ve been part of a part of still are. The Norton family, the I the Iowa team—

22:43 Right?

22:44 The Southeastern Conference team—

22:46 Right?

22:47 And now we’re at the Hooser Transit family. Tell us about that and how they interacted within your career and life. Well, Mr. Frank, who was part of the Iowa team, he unfortunately just passed away at the age of 89 in January, but he told me something and Frank had delivered worked for a lot of different transport companies. And when I had gotten on with Norton’s and then and Frank was already with them or no, he had got on there maybe a few months later, I guess it was. But anyway, he was a tow driver and he said, “Rowdy,” he goes, “They’re not all like this.” And I was just like, “What do you mean?” He says, “No, they’re not all like Norton Transport. If you want to work for a company, work for a family company. A family-based company.” And who’s your Transit is a family- based company. And Mr. John Skato, who is one of the part owners and general managers, he’s good friends with Calvin. And so when I found out about that family base, I thought, “Oh, okay.”

23:51 These are a company that I would like to work for, including, you know, with Norton. And I used to work for both Norton and Hooser at the same time. I would drive something out west for Hooser and then I would grab a Norton truck and come back east and or vice versa. Mhm.

24:10 I’d pick something out east for Norton, take it out west, and then sometimes I’d be out of hours, so I’d have to spend a day or two or wherever, which you know, sometimes that’s tough when you’re at Long Beach, California, and have to spend the day at the beach or you’re in Phoenix or, you know, you’re up in Seattle, Washington, and you have to spend the day at the pier. Oh my gosh. You can’t leave for, you know, 36 hours. It’s like, oh, it’s torture.

24:34 Somebody’s got to do it.

24:36 And somebody’s got to do it. And then you get paid to do it. That’s amazing. That is amazing. Now, talk about some of the people planned and unplanned that you have broken bread with.

24:48 Oh my gosh. I well like I said the list of the family names that I had given you earlier but believe me it unfortunately doesn’t do justice to all and I mean all there’s literally hundreds of people that I have rode with transported units with broke bread with picked up and delivered to across this country. The list is very long and windy just like the millions of miles of roads that we traversed. I mean I couldn’t list all the people that I have known and met through this business. And some of them aren’t even transporters. Some of them are people that own motel that we stop at all the time. Some of them are waitresses or owners of restaurants that we always stop at when we’re making our plans and going, “Oh yeah, we’ll have breakfast here. We’ll have lunch there. Or we’ll stay here tonight because we’ll get to see Sam or we’ll get to see Mr. Pat. You know, those types of things.”

25:47 That’s what I was going to ask you. How is it I guess travel-wise when you’re making the plans, say, “Hey, this is a chance to go back and see Fred or Greg or Bruce or Jim.”

25:56 Oh, that’s all the time. All the time. And then when we literally make the deliveries to the different truck companies or the different distribution dealerships across the country and distributors. Oh, it’s just wonderful going to see them and hearing about their families and how they’re doing and you know whether their team has won or lost that week or rub it into them, you know, that hey yeah, we got the better of you this week and that sort of thing. Now, I’m reading down here. We’ve talked a little bit about all your adventures on the road, the people you’ve met, the people you’ve broken bread with, the families that you have adopted or that have adopted you, and you’ve kind of worked your way into those families. And you kind of closed out what you shared with us, the movie— The Perfect Storm. How does that mesh in to what you’ve done so far and are still doing in driveaway?

26:55 Wow. I don’t know if people are that familiar with the movie, but in the beginning Mr. George Clooney is saying this dialogue and it’s from the bridge and they’re heading out to sea and they’re prepared. Him and his crew are packed and they’re ready and they’re leaving the dock and they’re leaving the bay for their unknown ocean adventure. And driveaway is just like that. Because let me tell you, there is no greater satisfaction that after you’ve done your walkthrough, your pre-trip, you’ve signed off on your inspection sheet, you’re fueled up, you’re filled out your log book, and you’re sitting in that driver’s seat with the wheels running, moving forward towards your next adventure. And believe me, that that next adventure, you just never know when you take off. You don’t know what’s over that next hill. You don’t know what’s around that next bend or what’s waiting for you down the road, but you always know it’s going to be an adventure.

27:55 You know, I read this book once. It was about Route 66 and on the inside jacket, I remember this. It said, “The tourist takes them where the map says, the traveler takes them where the road leads.” You sound more like a traveler.

28:13 We are a traveler. I mean, that that was one of the things that I learned from Dennis and some different people’s fa my travel family members that when we would get to a distributor, we would ask them, “Where is the best mom and pop restaurant at here in town? Where’s the best place to stay at?” You know, we would always ask that. And that’s what we’ve always done. You’re listening to Rowdy Lind, one of the alumni of Norton Transport. Has been with us for a long time. Wanted to ask you, we were talking about time. You live in the central time zone. We are in the Eastern time zone, but the great song Living on Tulsa time, it means something to you.

29:07 Oh, definitely. What was a song that we used to always sing as we were say leaving the east coast time zone and moving our way west because there the international bus manufacturer is in Tulsa. So we’d always be saying you know we’re heading on Tulsa time. But to differentiate the different time zones like I said all my Southeast Conference friends they’re in the Eastern time zone but we didn’t call it the Eastern time zone. We called it Georgia time. So it was Georgia time. Now I live in the Midwest. And so and I’m in the same time zone as Tulsa. So instead of calling it central time zone, Tulsa time. So Dennis would ask me something and I’d say, “Okay, I’ll meet you here and I’m on Tulsa time.” Or he would say, “You know, we’re on Georgia time or whatever.” And then when we would get to the mountain zone or the West Coast, we would deal with that that way. But yeah. Oh, Tulsa time has always had a very special meaning. And Georgia time to me and all of my friends and traveling buddies.

30:11 Gotcha. Now, speaking of time, this is a perfect time for a segue about keeping time. And we know that one of your passions is music.

30:23 Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I love driving around the country and that’s and really that’s one of the reasons why I’m probably not working for Norton’s now. I know when I gave my resignation letter to Calvin, I kind of explained to him that I’ve been keeping my music purpose and passion on the back burner for too long and so I need to kind of bring it to the front burner and start stirring it a little bit more. So I have been working on a nonprofit National College Music League and a music league that we’re going to nurture and develop and educate, spotlight and rank our college music talent. Across this country.

31:06 Let’s back up just a minute and we’ll come back to the National College Music League, but I wanted to back up just a second.

31:13 How did you get into music? Where did it start and where did it lead?

31:18 Well, what was funny was in the late 80s, I had already graduated from the University of Iowa in Iowa City. Always kind of loved to sing, kind of wanted to be a songwriter. And I thought, you know, let’s just give this a shot. You know, what do you got to lose? You have nothing to lose. Well, so I moved to Nashville. My girlfriend and I did. And that was in January of 1990. And Nashville, of course, was just exploding on the music scene at that point in time. It did not take me very long to realize that I was not a very good singer at all and probably could have been maybe a good songwriter if I decided to go down that road, but I decided not to. But what I found out was that I loved being around all these creative people.

32:09 So, I just started thinking, “Oh, well, I’ll just get into the business.” And that’s what I did.

32:14 How did that the two kind of marry together? I’m assuming that you were doing the music business and the trucking business at the same time. Did they work hand inand together? Did there was there conflict or was it harmony? See that is what the greatest thing of being an independent contractor is when I went back to that and I said about you know you can set your own hours and you can work when you want to work because there was many times there was schools that I colleges that I went and visited that I would go talk to them about see me about college music entertainment and I would have to take a few days off or I there was one point in time where every month I had to be home for a week because when I got my nonprofit management certification and then when I got my leadership management certification through the University of Iowa, the other one was through Iowa State University and I still had my job of driving. I could drive, I could make my money and you know go out for a week or two or three weeks and then I’d have my other meetings set up for my music and it worked out perfectly.

33:23 What type of music drives you, fuels you, pushes you?

33:27 I love all kinds of music. To me, there’s only three kinds of music. There’s good music, there’s bad music, and there’s great music. Great music’s the kind that makes the h hair on your arm stand up or the hair on the back of your neck stand up, and you’re just like, “Wow.” You know, you’re just, you know, totally amazed—

33:47 Being so immersed in music. Let’s just start at the top there. What are the components or what do you look for I guess as a checklist to make great music?

33:58 Oh my gosh, you’re really getting some indepth questions here. You know, I’ll go back to what they’ve always said and I don’t care if it’s a record label president, a publisher, a producer. There’s what called the IT factor. It the it factor.

34:18 Oh yeah. Because you can be in a studio and all of the sudden you’re just like, “Wow, I just can’t believe I heard those notes. I can’t believe she sang that so beautifully.” I mean, it’s just I can’t believe that that he did that. I mean, it’s almost as shocking to your system—

34:38 Right?

34:38 When you hear something that is so beautiful, it’s so amazing. I mean, the god-given the innate talent that’s in Nashville is unbelievable.

34:49 It’s I mean, for those of you who may not be familiar with Nashville, I’m sure everyone is familiar with Nashville being music city on the country on the countryside, but it’s true. If you’ve ever been there, you can walk down the street, stick your head in any bar, any hole in the wall or a big club, and there could be the next star right in front of you.

35:09 Oh, most definitely. Any given night, like you said, any given night, anywhere, at any time. Oh, that’s most definitely. And it’s really funny. It’s not even country music. There and especially today, there is so many more singers and songwriters of all genres because of Nashville being the writing capital of the world that have gravitated to Nashville. What amazed people that would come and visit me and my girlfriend down in Nashville was I would take them to a lot of bars that weren’t country bars, right?

35:43 And we would hear different rock and roll acts and stuff and they were like, “Oh my gosh, I never realized that, you know, there was such great blues music or such great rock and roll music here in Nashville.” And I said, “They’re all here.”

35:55 Yeah, they’ve got it all in Nashville. Now, now for you personally, we’re going to go back to the National College Music League, but what type of music do you play? I mean, is there one genre that you kind of gravitate toward, stay within, or do you balance between different genres there? No, the college music entertainment and see me our league will be open to all college students, all singers, songwriters, rappers musicians and bands in all genres and subg genres of pop and rock and hip hop, country and blues.

36:35 Now, within those competitions and what you’ve seen within those venues, has anyone of note emerged from there? I’m sure there have been some or some that are emerging.

36:47 Well, unfortunately, I have not held any competitions yet. I am still trying to put those things together. And I don’t know if I’m going to work with one conference at first, whether it be the Big 10 or the Southeast Conference or whether I work with a bunch of different schools here in Iowa. And when we do hold our first competitions, what I can tell you this is I’ve been on many college campuses and amazed at the talent that there is there on the college campuses, but unfortunately there’s just not a stage. There’s not a spotlight for them to perform and compete at a national level like our student athletes do. And that’s what CEI is all about. We are going to be able to provide those opportunities for the musicians and for the bands and for the singers and rappers and songwriters—

37:42 Kind of fill that gap.

37:44 Exactly. Yeah. Well, there is no gap. There is none. There never has been any, which kind of always amazed me because I tell people see me as like March Madness meets American Idol. And with— The Voice and American Idol and all of those great opportunities to be able to be seen and to be heard, I just kept thinking, “Oh my gosh, there needs to be a grassroots level here at the college level where you can take college courses, you can be in school, and still think, wow, what if is my band any good? Is those songs that I’ve written, are they any good?” And to be able to perform and compete those at the national level. Are you partnering up with schools or other ventures or how do you get that as far as taking it to the next step?

38:34 See, that’s what I’ve been in the process for it seems like a very long time. Because I just don’t know which direction that’s going to head into. Into the it’s almost to the point to where I don’t even know if I want to keep it as a nonprofit and then make it just maybe as a for-profit league, say like the what the NFL is or you know, Major League Baseball where we would have certain owners that would have parts of the country in their region that they would own and then we would put on produce these different events and competitions. I mean, if I understand what you’re saying here correctly, the talent’s there. It’s just giving them the venue, the opportunity, and the chance of coming forward.

39:23 Right. Exactly. That’s what it’s all about. It’s the opportunity to be able to perform and compete. If you’re a college athlete, there’s many venues and practice facilities on a college campus that that is theirs. So, if you have athletic talent, you have those opportunities already. But what if you don’t? What if you’re a great singer or you’re a great songwriter or if you’re a great drummer or lead guitarist? You unfortunately don’t have those opportunities. And like you had said earlier, that’s what Seami’s hoping to be able to do is to fill that gap.

39:59 Tell us what kind of talent you have seen out there so far in the beginning stages or the stages right now of your nonprofit. What kind of talent is out there? I mean, do you look at a particular performer in the college ranks and say this person has the IT factor and could be the next Grammy award winner?

40:21 I think it’s a numbers game. And you could go on any college campus and, you know, let’s just take the University of Iowa for instance. There’s three there’s 30,000 students on that campus. You divide that down and you’re talking, you know, 1%. There’s what? There’s 30 people there. There’s 30 people there that I could tell you on a scale of 1 to 10 are probably going to be a seven or an eight. And is there a nine or a 10 in there that could be a next Grammy award winner that could be the next platinum, you know, sales? Yeah. Yeah. They’re there. And it’s almost every college campus. And that’s what’s amazing to me is there’s just not been any organization or development of that talent as of yet. How did the idea come up with you?

41:08 Oh my gosh. You know what? It actually come up on the road.

41:14 As many good things do.

41:16 Yeah. Yeah. I’m driving, let’s see, it probably was a Norton Transport vehicle. And I’m sitting there and I spent almost 10 years in the music business in Nashville. And I’m thinking, okay, all these people, when I used to work at Warner Brothers in the mail room and at Arista Records in the mail room and Liberty Records when I was first getting started in their mail room in the early 90s, there would be a hundred tapes, a hundred CDs a day that would come in to those different places and people would listening to them and all this. And I just kept thinking, wow, if you’re you have music talent, why do you have to move to New York, Nashville, or Los Angeles or now, you know, or maybe it was Seattle or now, you know, possibly Atlanta, Georgia to get seen, to be seen, to be heard. I thought there’s got to be a system of development.

42:15 All of a sudden, it was like the brake lights or the bus hit me right in the square in the forehead or a bolt of lightning came down from God or something and said, “Rowdy, there is systems of development already there. It’s called the NCAA. It’s called the Big 10 Conference. It’s called the Southeast Conference. They’ve been nurturing and developing athletic talent for over hundred years. So, it’s like, why not do it for our music talent? And that’s how it was born.”

42:47 That’s an awesome story. The origination of it on the road. Now—

42:52 On the road. Yes, most definitely.

42:54 Now, I got to ask you this question. I’m going to branch it out. Two different questions. I’ve asked this one before. I don’t think of a podcast guest, but of different people outside of the podcast. But we’ll start it with question one. Rowdy Lind is stranded on an island. However, you have the ability to listen to music, but you are restricted to only five artists. Now, you get the total work of the solo, the compilations. Of those five artists, name your five.

43:28 Oh my gosh. Well, number one have to be the Rolling Stones. Rolling Stones. Then I’d probably go with Rod Stewart. Oh, Sir Elton John. Oh my gosh. Do I say Ario and Cheap Trick or— Let’s see. Oh man, you’re killing me here. Well, there’s so many. I mean, okay. I will say those three and then I’m going to say Muddy Waters and let’s go Robert Johnson.

44:05 Oh yeah.

44:06 Got you got to get the blues in there because—

44:09 Because the three I named before that—

44:11 They wouldn’t be around.

44:12 They’re not there. They’re not there without the—

44:14 Without those guys.

44:15 Y—

44:16 Without those guys. And then of course you can go to Charlie Parker who’s the saxophone player from Kansas City, Missouri. I mean, yeah, the list goes on and on, but I guess those would be my five. Yeah.

44:26 Now, part two of the question that was on an island.

44:29 Okay.

44:30 Now, you’re on the road. You’re in a Kenworth T880.

44:35 You’re rolling down the road. And what’s your five on the road? Does it diff from what’s on the island or is it the same or is or what is the five on the road?

44:47 Oh, wow. Well, you definitely you’ve got to get some southern rock in there when you get on when you’re on the road and like you said, you get in one of them Kenworths or Peterbilts or whatever and the stereo systems in there are unbelievable. By the way, the list would be kind of sort of the chain or the same. But let’s see what a Lynyrd Skynyrd or maybe a Molly Hatchet or the Almond Brothers or something. You just got to get in there. But so I can’t list all five because I’m going to segue into something else that you’re going to be probably shocked at. But I listen a lot of times, especially when I’m in a city, the classical music. I’ll turn it on to NPR and I’ll put on classical music and it is so soothing to listen to that music when you’re in all this chaos around you of traffic.

45:46 It relaxes you. It does relax you. Yeah. And here’s what’s really funny is sometimes you’ll be listening and I’m not that much of afficionado on classical music, but you’ll be listening to Bach or Beethoven or something and you’re pulling into the city, say from Washington DC to Boston, the whole East Coast corridor, which is a nightmare during the daytime. And you can be listening to one of those classical composers, and then all of a sudden the craziness starts sinking up with the music. It seems like I don’t know what it does to your mind, but it’s like, oh my gosh, you know, it starts to get crazy and then it kind of slows down and mellows out and then it gets crazy again, you know, and it’s just like, wow, quite the experience.

46:29 Now, we know from picking up on the conversation we’ve heard here with Rowdy Lind on the Six-Figure Trucker brought to you by Norton Transport. Rowdy is a longtime alum from the Norton family. Big music guy. And what do you see from what we’ve heard so far? I’m kind of gauging based off when you told us you got out of the University of Iowa listening to your musical tastes who kind of falls in there. You’re a gentleman that’s in your mid50s.

46:59 Oh, I wish. Thank you. I appreciate that. No, I’m actually 63 years old.

47:04 Oh, okay. Okay. I was picking up on the cheap trick there and when I thought you had moved to Nashville. So, you moved to Nashville a few years after, I would presume graduating from the Iowa.

47:18 Yeah, I actually stuck around I loved Iowa City so much that I worked at a clothing store in downtown Iowa City part-time basis and I was also a bartender part-time, which that’s what I did when I first, of course, like everybody, I bartended there at a bar called Toucan right on Music Row there in Nashville.

47:39 Okay. Okay. So, got a great story if you want to hear it about toucan.

47:44 Hit us with it.

47:45 Okay. I know everybody that’s in the audience has probably heard of Mr. Kenny Chznney.

47:51 Yeah.

47:52 Wouldn’t you assume that? Okay. I think so.

47:54 You know. Yeah. Okay. Well, Mr. Kenny Chznney used to work at Toucan when I worked at Toucan.

48:00 Oh, wow.

48:01 I bartended part-time. I think it was about three nights a week. And Mr. Kenny Chznney was a valet. He used to park your car. What kind of guy was he back then?

48:12 Super nice. One of the nicest people you’d ever want to meet. I’m sure he’s still that way today. I will never forget because we all did it. It was kind of a family affair type of thing that that Johnny oh, I can’t think of his last name, but I won’t say it. With two that owned the bar, people like my family would come and we’d introduce them, you know, to the different people. I’ll never forget when Kenny’s mom and his sister came and he introduced it to all of us, you know, just him and Mark and WT, they were the three valet there at Toucan.

48:45 Now, when he was the valet at Toucan, had he started his music career? Was it a dream for him? Did you guys know about it? How was it then? At that point—

48:53 It would he it was the start of his dream. He was actually playing downtown at what a bar it was called the Turf at the time and it was just not there anymore. I’m almost positive it’s not there anymore. And then you know wanting to write songs. It was before he got his record deal with Capricorn Records. But yeah he and let’s see he probably let’s see probably a year maybe and then he got the deal with Capricorn. But yeah. Yeah. Now, I’m assuming that did you get to see him perform at the same time? Was he working the valet gig and doing his passion at the same time?

49:31 Oh, yeah. Yeah, most definitely. He was actually doing performances down at the turf, which was on Lower Broadway. And what’s funny about that is we didn’t know about it at first. He didn’t tell us. And then all of a sudden, at one point in time, he had said something about, “Yeah, I got a gig tonight at the Turf.” And we were like, “Oh, yeah, yeah, okay. When we get off work, we’ll come down and see, you know,” and he’s like, “No, no, no, no, no. I don’t want, you know, you guys to get hurt.” Cuz at that point in time in the early 90s, downtown Nashville was kind of a rough and tumble joint.

50:07 You know, there was a lot of places that were for lease, for sale, and for rent out in that district. And what was hilariously funny, me and a carload of people went down and to go see him and I had been to the turf before and so I knew where it was at and we’re coming down the hill there lower broad down towards I think it’s on seventh street or fifth or was you know it wasn’t clear down to first street but anywhere second and lo and behold it was so funny there was two squad cars with the flashing red lights and I said oh my god I think that’s right in front of the turf of where we’re going.

50:44 Oh my god.

50:46 So, literally, we had to step over two guys that were belly down in handcuffs to get into the bar to see Kenny. And he was just shocked and mortified. He was like, “I told you, you know, it’s not safe down there for you guys to be here.” And you could literally stand at the bar and reach your hand out in front of you and shake Kenny’s hand. That’s how close the stage and the bar were together. How cool is it to work with step over people face down in the street with handcuffs just to get in to see Kenny Chesty and to see what he is now and you knew him back when.

51:21 Oh, it’s just one of the greatest moments or experiences of your life. I mean, you can’t describe it any other way. I remember seeing Kenny a few years later when he had already signed his label deal and he was with Dale Morris Management who happened to be the manager of Alabama and see Kenny for I’m going to say probably close to two years warmed up for Alabama which just skyrocketed you know his transition into the superstardom stage and I saw him before he actually took way off. And I told him, I said, “Kiny, you’re on the launching pad, man. You’re about ready to take off into the stratosphere.” He looked at me and just said, “I hope so.” You know, and that was the last time I ever talked to him and one of these days I’ll catch up with him when he slows down a little bit. But—

52:13 You know, at the times—

52:15 At the beginning of this conversation when we were talking about music, you talked about the it factor for great music. Did you know back then in the 90s that Kenny Chesn had the IT factor?

52:27 I don’t know if he did have the it factor then at that point in time, but I can tell you this, no one was going to outwork Kenny Chzn. No one was going to outwork and out hustle Mr. Kenny Chzn. He wanted it that bad. So, I knew he was going to get there. I didn’t know that he was going to be a super duper star that he is now. I mean, way up there in the stratosphere. But I knew that he wanted it that bad and he was going to do whatever it took to get there.

52:56 Well, you know, as from listening to you and knowing about the National College Music League and where you’ve taken it, where you want it to go, where do you see it in the future? How does it— What’s your dream, your vision of it?

53:08 Well, I do want it to be literally a national music league. I want to be able to know who the top 10 songs are in the Big 10 in the Southeast Conference and I want to know what the top 20 songs are in the nation at any given time. And to kind of circle back to Kenny a little bit, see Mr. Kenny Chzn graduated from what is it? East Tennessee State.

53:31 I think that’s correct. Yeah.

53:32 And he would have there’s no doubt in my mind and there’s a bunch of other well Mr. Gar Brooks and Mr. Brad Paisley. I mean, the Lady A, I could go down the list of all of them of the great country artists that are college graduates—

53:49 Right?

53:50 I know Kenny Chzn for a fact would have performed and competed if See would have been available. And that’s where I want to take it. I want to take it to that next level for the Kenny Chesneys that are on college campuses today. And I don’t care what genre it is. I want to be able to give them that opportunity to be able to perform and to compete. Now, in the competition aspect of it, do you see a playoff coming in like a March Madness kind of thing?

54:16 Yeah, most definitely. That’s exactly what I wanted to be able to culminate into. So, you will be able to we’ll have the different genres and subg genres and we’ll take probably the top two or three from each conference and then yeah, we’re going to have like a Super Bowl of college music talent and we’re going to spend a week and then by the time the weekend gets there, we’re going to have the best of the best literally from the college campuses across this country.

54:47 That’s fascinating. You’re listening to Rowdy Lind here on the Six-Figure Trucker brought to you by Norton Transport. Rowdy, we’re coming toward the end of the record here so to speak. You’re 63 years young. You certainly feel like you’re full of life and fire and vinegar and have the music passion in front of you. Still drive. Kind of open the window for us as you’re looking down the road for the next 5 to seven years.

55:15 I always love traveling. Probably always will continue to. And that that’s one of the things that if and when see me takes off, I’m going to be the guy that you’re going to see at each and every venue making sure that we are executing this competition in the right way. I’m not going to be sitting in Iowa City, Iowa or Nashville, Tennessee in an office desk. No way. I’m going to be right out there and in the middle of it. That’s just the way I’ve always been and I don’t see it ever changing.

55:43 Boots on the ground. Boots on the ground. It’s got to be—

55:47 What about on the driving side? You’re still doing it somewhat. Where do you see that? Where do you see that going?

55:53 You know, I do a week or two here or there and then I take a week or two off. And that’s about it. I unfortunately fell in the Denver airport of all things and injured my shoulder pretty bad. And so I’ve had problems with it of being able to drive long distances and things like that. And so that’s kind of one of the things too that’s kind of the I look at as the good Lord’s telling me, you know, you need to get see me off that back burner and get it more onto that front burner.

56:26 It’s time to do it.

56:27 It’s time to do it. Yeah. Yeah. What is that? Pastor TJ Jake says that your passion will lead you into your purpose in life.

56:37 Right.

56:37 And I truly believe that.

56:39 Gotcha. Now I’m going to wrap it up here with you. We’ve come off, you have come off a big high of the Iowa Hawkeyes women’s basketball team.

56:50 Winning the national semifinal, making it to the final game. What are the Hawkeyes going to do in football this fall?

56:57 Oh boy, you had to bring that up. You know, I don’t know. It’s just tough to predict. We’ve had our defense was lights out and we had so many offensive problems this past year. You know, you always hope and pray for the best and so, you know, I’m hoping that we win a Big 10 championship. I hope we get to a good bowl game. You know, those sorts of things, but I don’t know if we’ll get there or not. It’s just hard to say. And then with USC and UCLA joining the Big 10, not this season, but the next one, our roads going to get a little harder to travel. How crazy is that going to be? Speaking of travel, you know, I was talking with some other sports friends of mine, sports fans friends, right?

57:42 I’m like, okay, USC, UCLA coming to the Big 10. What’s that going to be like when Iowa has to go to Southern Cal for a game? You’re not going to have many, if any, Hawkeye fans in the stands. The same true for, you know, UCLA coming to Iowa City. I’d say it’d be a little bit more in the reverse because there is a huge LA contingent that that’s out in the LA and California region. But then UCLA fans, you know, in Iowa, boy, I don’t know. They’re probably few and far between, right?

58:19 And then like you said, you know, to be able to go now from coast to coast, I mean, you’re looking at Rutgers and now USC and UCLA. I just don’t know. I mean, I know they’re making a lot of money and I know that’s the name of the game anymore, but I don’t know if it’s right for the student athlete. I don’t know if it’s right for the coaches and the fans, you know, the diehard fans that are diehard Big 10 fans. I mean, come on. We’re not Big 10 anymore. We’re just big. Well, we’re going to go what to 16 now, you know. And the same thing with the Southeast Conference and the Big 12, the Big 12 days that I remember and stuff and the Southeast Conference that I remember, you know, and boy, it’s I guess as you get older, change is inevitable.

59:05 Sure. Sure. You’re listening to Rowdy Lind here on the Six-Figure Trucker brought to you by Norton Transport. Rowdy, we’ve talked about football. We’ve talked about music. Talked a lot about music. We’ve talked about opportunities. We’ve talked about family. We’ve talked about breaking bread with strangers that become friends. I want to give you—

59:22 And family.

59:23 And family. Absolutely. Want to give you the last word here, things to think about in the future as we move through 23. What would your advice be to people who are in the driveaway industry and people who may be considering going into the industry?

59:38 Wow. Let me tell you this. It is great to get paid. It’s great to go from city to city and enjoy the people, sights, sounds, smells, and food from each local. What do I do for a living? I’ll tell you this. I’m a paid tourist, and believe me, there’s nothing like it out there. I believe that’s a good place to wrap it up right there. I’m a paid tourist, and there’s nothing like it out there. Rowdy, thank you so much for joining us. It’s been a absolute pleasure to spend time with you and listen to some of the stories from the road and beyond. Thank you so much and have a good time in Iowa, Nashville, maybe you get to Austin, maybe you get to Los Angeles, maybe you get to Atlanta, wherever your dream takes you on that National College Music League. We wish you the best.

1:00:29 Thank you very much, Mr. John Madewell. I appreciate it. And tell everybody in the Norton family that I love them and God bless them and have a happy Easter.

1:00:36 All right. You, too. Thank you very much, brother.

1:00:45 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.