00:05 We started driving together and we’ve been together ever since.

00:08 Now, did he make the first move or did you make the first move?

00:11 Oh, come on now. You know he did.

00:13 Of course he did.

00:17 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. Hello everyone and welcome to the Six-Figure Trucker brought to you by Norton Transport. And each and every week, those of you who join us, you know this is a space and avenue where we lift up, we elevate, and celebrate the drivers that make our company what it is and make this country go round and round. We’re so grateful for all of them. And if you joined us last week, you heard Kendrick Jackson. He’s one of our deck drivers. Superb deck driver, deck trainer, great guy. Was a great interview. We really love talking to him. And this week we have his better half. Her name is Landre McAdams. Landre, how are you?

01:12 Fine. How are you?

01:14 Oh, if I were any better, I’d have to sit on my hands to keep from clapping.

01:18 I like to tell myself that anyway. But Landre, tell us where you are this evening.

01:23 I am in Nashville, Tennessee.

01:25 Now, where did you come in from?

01:27 Houston, Texas. First starting off in Bon Army, Texas.

01:31 Okay. You picked up down toward San Antonio there. Now, you’ve got a deck set, right? Have you dropped the full set yet or just partial?

01:38 Actually, we’re still we just getting to the down the lay down spot in the morning. We’ll undeck the trucks.

01:44 I gotcha. What kind of trucks are you pulling?

01:46 They are Cascadia sleepers.

01:49 Gotcha. You got four of them total.

01:51 I have three.

01:52 Three. Okay. Now, we mentioned there at the top that you and Kendrick Jackson are an item. You guys have been together for a bit there. Now, you guys like to run together. Is that correct?

02:04 Yes, we do.

02:05 Are you guys running together tonight?

02:07 We are.

02:08 I got you. Now, talk about the dynamics of running together. The good, the bad, the pros, the cons.

02:13 Wow. Well, the good thing is we work together as a team and we get the job done safely and faster. That’s the good thing about it. Sometimes, you know, Kendrick can get a little riled up. So, you know, oh, I got to do it this way. So, that’s our little our downside of it. Oh, he knows. Which I’ll give him that cuz he’s a very good guy. He does very well and logistically— Oh, he’s awesome. So, it’s not too many things bad to say about us working together. And—

02:44 I’ll give you a chance to praise him here. Logistically, he’s awesome. What do you— What does that entail? What do you mean when you say he’s awesome logistically?

02:53 Well, because when we out on our trips, he put all our trips together. He gets us there in and out without so much hassle. Know the traffic and the hustle and bustle. So, he kind of keep us on the right track and our time frame.

03:07 I got you.

03:08 Just the logistics side. Yeah. Speaking of logistics, you know, before we started recording here on this session, you guys had it was a little challenge today, which tell us a little bit about, I guess, finding parking. Is that right? What was the challenge this evening?

03:23 Wow. The challenge of parking is getting in with the zars. They are very hard to park sometimes. So, we do have to scour that out before we get to the place.

03:34 And you’re at a TA right now?

03:36 Yes. Is there enough room for obviously there is for you and for Kendrick to park your deck sets.

03:44 It is. We have to pay for the parking sometimes so we can kind of get into two slots.

03:50 Gotcha. How far away from the TA do you drop tomorrow? Is it just around the corner or—

03:56 Oh, yeah. Just about five by miles.

03:58 Okay. Okay. Now, what will how would you guys what happens after you drop your decks at? Where do you guys head next? Is it back to Von Army? Back to Van Army. We’re back picking up another set.

04:09 Now, it’s now as we’re talking to you, it’s on Monday. How many runs can you make in a week? I know you guys both like to run and you’ve got a lot of miles under your belt and you run a good bit in a given week, in a given month. What’s a good week for you?

04:24 We can do the shorties. Two a week.

04:30 Two deck sets a week.

04:31 Two deck sets a week. Yeah. And that adds up to some pretty good money.

04:35 Oh yeah—

04:37 She said. Oh yeah. Oh yeah—

04:40 That’s real good.

04:41 Now you’re listening to Landre McAdams here on the Six-Figure Trucker brought to you by Norton Transport. She and her better half, Kendrick Jackson, both deck drivers and both deck trainers. Now I want to kind of go back a little bit, kind of peel the onion back. How long have you been deck decking, Landre?

05:01 For two years. You’ve been decking for two years and of that two years, how you’ve been a trainer, too, for some time, right?

05:08 Well, no, I’m sorry. I’ve been decking for about five years.

05:11 Okay.

05:12 Training part of the deck side is the two years.

05:15 How’s the training for you as a trainer? I mean, how do how would you describe it?

05:18 Well, it’s pretty thorough. You know, I like to talk as I roll through everything that I’m doing, whether I’m stripping the trucks, you know, getting them prepared to turn them in, doing all the axles and stuff. So, I like to be thorough when I’m talking to the people who I’m training. That way, they can kind of get a good understanding of what’s going on.

05:38 Now, last week when we heard from Kendrick, he talked pretty extensively about his role as a trainer. Your role as a trainer, has it made you a better driver?

05:48 Oh, yeah. Yes. It makes you look out for a lot of things like where when you get into places, make sure you know where you’re going before you go because backing up is really it’s a big deal. So you can’t don’t turn down roads that you’re not supposed to be in. So that makes you aware of where you’re going.

06:08 What about from a safety—

06:10 A safety component? I mean, that’s something that Kendrick really drilled down on when we talked to him last week because you know, he said in Kendrick’s words, he said he wanted to make sure everybody comes home. I’m sure the same is true for you.

06:25 Yes, it is. Yes. The safety part is the best part of the job, you know, making sure you kind of you got to drive with the people. So, we do believe in the safety thing. Let’s kind of walk us through what you talk about as far as reiterating safety principles to a driver that’s on board with you and your training. What are some of the I guess bullet points that you try to leave with them that really lock in with them?

06:52 Well, first off, when you’re driving with traffic, kind of stay over to the right side of the lanes. That way that you won’t get be impeding and getting over on top of people and watching mirrors while you’re turning and you just can’t you got to watch it by getting over on people as well because you know we’re big you know people getting over into us that that kind of thing is really our safety thing too you know jumping over on top of people that’s just one thing we don’t do. So I like to tell them about watching the cars as they getting onto the freeway.

07:26 I gotcha. What about lead time as far as or break time? How much lead do you leave between your horse truck and what’s in front of you?

07:37 Oh, we do about two three truck lists—

07:43 Cuz it takes a while to slow down what you have.

07:46 It does. It does.

07:48 Gotcha. Now, I wanted to talk a little bit about the romance side of you and Kendrick here. Tell us how you guys met.

07:57 We met in the busing industry. We were both bus drivers tour bus drivers, and that’s how we met there.

08:06 Now, kind of backing up a little bit, you’ve been driving for better part of two decades. Is that about right?

08:13 Correct. Yes.

08:15 Now, how did you and Kendrick meet in the busing industry? Were you already there? Was he there first? Who was there first? And how did you meet? He was there first and I actually came along and we met somewhere in between getting into the same route together. They put us together and we started driving together and we’ve been together ever since.

08:35 Now, did he make the first move or did you make the first move?

08:39 Oh, come on now. You know he did.

08:41 Of course he did.

08:44 Yeah. He was trying to steal one of my trips and I was like, “Are you trying to take my trip?” He said, “No, I’m trying to help you. I’m going to clean your bus.” I say, “Well, thank you very much.” So, we kind of hit it off from there. You know—

08:56 For you guys listening in here, this is Leshaundra McAdams here and her other half is Kendrick Jackson, who was our guest last week. And they were in the office just a couple weeks before that. The Norton Transport Office in Ringgold, Georgia, just off I-75 as soon as you come into Georgia. And a great couple, great personality, both of them together. And you know how being on the road together so much living in the same city in Houston, how has that strengthened your relationship?

09:27 It’s great. I mean, believe it or not, time alone, we drive separate trucks, so that’s enough time in between right there. But we have a very good relationship. So, we work very well together. Time is not an issue.

09:43 Do you guys stay in touch with each other on the headsets when you’re in separate trucks? Yes, we do.

09:47 What kind of things do you guys talk about on the road there? I mean, that you can share with us.

09:52 Well, we try to keep up with what we’re going first of all. You know, he’s I’m in the front most of the time and he kind of stay up with me to make sure we’re going to the correct places or taking the same highways. Not that, you know, we don’t know where we’re going, but it’s kind of good that we can kind of keep each other a breast of time sometimes, you know, when you need somebody to talk to keep you going. But yeah, we basically try to keep on the same track as far as our itinerary.

10:21 I gotcha. I gotcha. Now, Kendrick said that he was sharing with us last week when he was doing the motor coach, the bus tours. He came across quite a few celebrities, some famous people. Same for you. Did you have some pretty famous passengers in your time there?

10:39 Yes, I took the whole Astros team.

10:43 Oh—

10:43 Yeah. We had a I got we had a blast cuz it was a parade. So I kind of drove them through the parade.

10:49 What were they like? What were the Astros like when they won the— Is this when they won the World Series?

10:54 They normal people. They was having fun and they was just shouting and the people was shouting. It was pretty cool.

11:00 Anybody else of note that you’ve had on your bus before?

11:03 This other lady, she played on Sister. What is her name? Ah, can’t think of her name, but yeah, she played on one of the shows, Sister. She played the mom of the twins. And yeah, she actually rode my bus, too.

11:19 That’s cool. That’s cool. Now, I’m trying to remember from talking with Kendrick, you guys have been an item for what, five, six years?

11:27 Correct. Yes.

11:29 Now, he had a scary experience that happened back in I think it was in August of 2020 when he had a crash.

11:38 Yeah. You guys were together then, right? I mean, not physically together, but you were dating then.

11:44 Yes, we were together.

11:45 What was that like? I mean, because you in Kendrick’s words, he was fortunate to walk away from it.

11:51 Yeah, it was real scary because, you know, normally we check on each other and I was checking on him and he didn’t answer. So, that was kind of scary. I was so worried about it. He didn’t get the phone. The phone was in the dirt somewhere. So, of course, I was calling around. But, it was really bad. And when he called me from the hospital, so I was like, “Nah, this is bad.” Usually I don’t let him go out alone. You see what happened when I let him go, right? But I was happy to hear from him when he did call me. So that was a real good scare though.

12:25 Yeah. He was—

12:26 Sliding down the mountain.

12:27 Yeah. He was describing what happened there. I think he was in a pumper truck at the time. And he was telling that story last week and for both of you, did that change your perspective when you get behind the wheel now after seeing Kendrick have such a close call?

12:45 Yes, it did. You know, be extra careful, pre-trip your trucks, all of that good stuff. It makes you think about it. You know, life is flashing before your eyes. So, anytime we get in these trucks, we make sure we extra precaution with the pre-tripping and checking the brakes and all that good stuff.

13:03 Gotcha. Now, Kendrick kind of mentioned this last week and you and I talked about it before we actually got on the air here, but you also like to jump on two wheels. You’re a aid motorcycle rider. Tell us about that. How did you get into that?

13:17 Well, actually, I started a golf girl group. You know, we rode have about 15 girls. All of us ride in the bike club. Our bike club was Female Bikers Incorporated. So we all got together and we put a club together and I’ve been riding since 2020. No, 20 2004.

13:37 Gotcha.

13:38 And created the club and been riding two wheels forever.

13:42 Love it.

13:43 Oh yeah. Are you the president of the club?

13:46 I am.

13:46 All right. You said there’s about 15. Where do you guys go? What’s a typical trip for you if you guys get together and take off on a road?

13:54 We go all over. We’ve been to Murder Beach. We’ve been to Memphis. We go to Galveston for the bike rallies. We just we kind of go around all the states a little bit.

14:05 Gotcha. And you’ve got a couple of bikes, right?

14:08 Yes.

14:08 What do you have?

14:09 I have a Suzuki Hayabusa. That’s a crotch rocket. It’s a 1300. And I also have a cruiser. Not the cruising, the sport touring is called the ZZR12 and that’s a Kawasaki.

14:23 Gotcha. Which one do you like better?

14:24 Ah, I like the Hayabusa. You got more speed, you know.

14:29 Got some get up and go to it. Now, if you’ve been riding for let me see if my math is right. 20 years.

14:35 Yes.

14:36 You know, I used to ride myself and you got to keep your head on a swivel. I guess safety certainly bleeds into riding a motorcycle as much if not more than riding a big truck.

14:46 Absolutely. Ride them helmets.

14:49 Yeah. You when you go to South Carolina, that’s a law. That’s a state where you don’t have to have a helmet. What’s your stance on that? I mean, you can ride without one in South Carolina, but how do you look at that?

15:01 I wear mine. I just feel safer with it on.

15:06 Gotcha. Now, have you been able to get Kendrick to get a bike? M every now and then maybe twice a month. I used to ride a lot.

15:16 He’ll ride your other bike or does he have his own?

15:18 No, he don’t ride. He wants to, but he not riding right now.

15:24 Now, what do you see down the road as far as your career as a deck driver and a deck trainer? We asked Kendrick the same question. Are you guys kind of on the same wavelength in that as far as that goes?

15:39 Oh, yeah. We plan to retire from here. That’s it’s pretty good to help people, you know, and it’s not a lot of that going around. So, we want to give back. We want to help with the training and all that good stuff.

15:54 Gotcha. Now, Kendrick talked about also, I mean, there’s always chances or opportunities where you can help another driver out where they’re maybe in a pinch, need something, may not be aware of something. Have you come across situations like that where you can lend some of your experience to other drivers?

16:13 Yes, we all train differently. So, it could be some things that Kendrick teach them that I teach differently. So let’s say for instance like the way we put in axles, we have a certain tools that we use to put the axles in. You know, Kendrick uses crescent wrench and I use my ratchet wrench. So it’s kind of it’s easy. So we tell them you’re going to learn your niche the way it’s safe and it’s better for you because it’s good either way. So that’s what makes it good by us training differently the way we do. Got it.

16:47 But at the same time, it’s all the same.

16:49 I understand. Understand. Now, you were talking about retiring. How far away from retirement are you? I know you guys are still pretty in your young years, but how far away do you see yourself doing this?

17:03 I got about eight more years in me.

17:08 I got you. Do you see some travel in your future? I know you and Kendrick have done some traveling together as well.

17:15 Yes, we do. We actually got a cruise or two coming up. We try to take breaks in between. So get your head right to get back to work.

17:22 Oh, you have to keep your sanity.

17:24 Oh, yeah.

17:25 Where you guys cruising?

17:26 We take our little time. We’re going to Cosm—

17:29 All in the Caristan Caribbean.

17:32 Okay. Is that one of those all-inclusive jobs?

17:35 It is.

17:36 Oh, that’ll be fun.

17:37 Day.

17:38 Is it this year or is it coming up this year?

17:41 Actually, it’s December. One is in December and then one back though in January. You guys going to be in the warm weather when we’re when the rest of the country’s freezing there. That’s—

17:50 Yeah. Everybody going to be back home freezing.

17:53 That’s the idea right there. That’s the way to do it.

17:55 Yes, sir.

17:56 Do you see yourself with Kendrick riding off into the sunset, so to speak?

18:00 Oh, yeah. We’ve been doing that.

18:03 Yes, indeed.

18:05 How would you describe your relationship? I mean, one that you guys— It seems like a great relationship where you work together, play together, and I mean, that’s got to be great. Oh yeah, it is. Especially when you can get along with somebody and be around them, you know, 24/7. A lot of people can’t do that, but I think we’re pretty good on that, you know.

18:25 You know, you find a lot of times people that work in the same profession—

18:30 Even when they’re not working, you’re talking shop or talking about work. Do you guys find yourself doing that, too?

18:37 We do all the time. We already be planning our next trip.

18:42 Keeps you sharp, though, right? Uh-huh. We do.

18:45 All right. Well, Landre, thank you so much for joining us. You were a fantastic guest and we appreciate you shedding so much insight on the training part, the safety, the importance of safety, and how you and Kendrick have grown together on the open road. Anything you want to add?

19:01 No.

19:03 All right. Well, Landre, thank you so much for joining us. You guys be safe tonight and when you undock tomorrow and head back down to Texas.

19:11 All right. Thank you very much.

19:13 All right. And have a good evening.

19:14 All right. Thanks. All right.

19:20 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.