COVER FEATURE - JUNE 2010
LIVIN’ THE LOWLIFE
FOR KRIS GAARE IT’S THE ONLY WAY TO LIVE
By Daniel J. Linss - Editor
“Livin’ the lowlife” seems like a put-down, but for Kris Gaare, it’s a lifestyle he has chosen and embraced. With his shaved head, long beard and tattoo-covered arms, some might think that Kris (37) of Kriss Trucking is a demented social misfit, but nothing could be further from the truth. Kris is a hard-working, well-spoken truck driver, and he is also a big teddy bear. Although he looks the part (he even has two emblems on his truck that say “Lowlife”), he isn’t some street-wandering hooligan – he’s just a trucker that loves to lower every vehicle he owns, and his current Peterbilt is a good example of that.
Kris Gaare (pronounced Gary) was born and raised in the small town of Clayton, CA just east of Oakland. His father Jon was the manager of Watkins Freight Lines’ San Francisco terminal. Around 1971, Jon left Watkins and started his own trucking and warehousing company called Tri-J. As soon as he was out of diapers, Kris was in a truck, and as soon as he was old enough to pick up a box, he was working inside the warehouse, loading and unloading trailers. When he got older, he began to run the warehouse and drive from time to time, but his mom and dad did everything they could (without success) to keep him out of the driver’s seat.
After graduating from high school, Kris tried college for a few months, but quickly realized that this was not the place for him, so he went to work full-time. Most of his work was trucking-related, but he did leave the industry a few times to try other things (mostly construction-related jobs). But, somehow, he always found his way back to tucking. In 1995 he began driving, and over the next two years worked for several companies. In 1997 he became an owner operator and bought his first truck – a 1983 Ford bobtail with a box van – and began delivering Maytag appliances and office supplies all over the Bay area. Before buying this truck, he wasn’t sure what he really wanted to do, but once he got those keys in his hands, it was “game on” for Kris.
For two years, Kris ran that Ford bobtail until the motor blew up. Since it wasn’t worth fixing, Kris bought his second truck – a 1989 Freightliner cabover daycab with a long (250”) wheelbase. Kris removed the truck’s fifth wheel and installed a 24’ box with a 5,000-lb. liftgate, then continued hauling appliances and office supplies. After doing this for a couple more years, he took the box off the truck, chopped the wheelbase down to 180 inches, put the fifth wheel back on, purchased a 45’ dry van trailer and began hauling canned beverages between Los Angeles and the Bay area.
In 2001, Kris got the opportunity to start hauling “dirty dirt” for Denbeste, but for that, he needed to buy a newer truck. Kris sold just about everything he owned and borrowed money from everyone he could to purchase a used 1998 Peterbilt 379. The truck was a very nice fleet truck, in great condition, but nothing special. Painted black, the rig had a 265” wheelbase, a 475 Cat 3406E, a 10-speed transmission, standard leaf suspension, an Ultra cab and a 63” stand-up sleeper. Kris used this truck to pull Denbeste’s end dump trailers, hauling contaminated dirt from old gas stations and train depots to the toxic waste facility in Kettleman City, CA.
After three years, the rates for hauling this “dirty dirt” began to fall and, eventually, were paying the same as regular freight. Kris decided it was time to move on, and then bought a 2000 Wabash 48’ spread-axle reefer and began pulling frozen chicken and produce between California and Arizona. During this time, he started to make small improvements to his truck, like installing straight pipes, lowering the front end and adding full fenders. In 2006, he stretched out the wheelbase from 265” to 301” and changed the suspension to a low-leaf air system. Then, later that same year, he got clipped by a car, which sent him crashing into the concrete center divider. At that point, Kris decided to tear the truck completely apart and rebuild it.
Wanting to change everything, Kris quit driving, took the truck to Shane & Dave’s Truck Shop in Stockton, California, and spent the next five months helping them, full-time, to transform his truck (he also helped them, at no cost, with their other projects). Kris and Dave Wagenman did most of the work themselves, which included replacing the 63” stand-up sleeper with a 48” flat top, replacing the Ultra cab roof cap with a standard roof cap, shaving the cab lights, adding 10” cab and sleeper extensions and custom-cut fiberglass front fenders, and shaving the external air cleaners, opting instead for an under-hood system consisting of five inline K & N filters. The guys also switched out the stock 3.55 rear gears with 3.36 rear ends, installed a big back window in the sleeper, and converted the two-piece side windows into one-piece air-operated units. After all of this major work was done, they painted the chassis black and the truck blue (a custom-mixed color with lots and lots of pearl added to it).
With most of the major transformations now complete, it was time to start working on the smaller details. Kris installed 8” powder-coated black stacks, a billet grille, Pete 359 headlights and center hood strip, 22.5 “smoothie” (solid) aluminum wheels on the back, WTI double hump fiberglass rear fenders, and a real Nathan train horn (which is operated by a second stick in the cab). They also painted the fuel tanks and boxes black, the front and rear visors, as well as the dash inside, blue, and added about one hundred feet of hidden blue LED strip lights underneath. Another big undertaking was the windshield wipers – Kris chopped the cowl and moved them to the center. Some of the final exterior details included custom motorcycle blinkers up front, flipped mirror brackets, big “moon-style” chrome hub covers, and a wide bumper, while the interior was finished off with chrome gauges, new black leather seats and a custom overhead console.
After five months of not working (and spending a lot of money), it was time for Kris to get back on the road. Unfortunately, on his very first load, the engine began spewing oil, forcing Kris to do a full major inframe to the truck’s 3406E engine. Again, taking advantage of the downtime and labor, he boosted his 475 Cat to 550+ horsepower and upgraded his old transmission to an 18-speed. To complete his combination, Kris bought a new 2007 stainless steel 53’ spread-axle Great Dane reefer. At that time, he began running frozen and general freight throughout the seven western states.
Attending many truck shows that summer in 2007, Kris met his now-girlfriend Angelina Lopez at the show in Las Vegas, NV. The two hit it off, and quickly decided to move in together. The problem was, Kris no longer wanted to live in the Bay area (it was just too expensive) and Angelina lived down south in Indio, CA. Since Angelina has family in Central California and most of Kris’ work comes from there, they decided that Los Banos, CA would be a good, central location. Neither of them wants children, but they do love to babysit their nieces and nephews – they just like it when they can send them home, too. They do have one kid, though – Gigi – a spoiled and pampered English Springer Spaniel dog.
Kris pulled the shiny stainless steel reefer trailer for about a year, but as the economy began to weaken, he saw the writing on the wall and decided it was time to take a step back. Wanting to get out from under the big payment, he sold the stainless trailer and bought a 2001 Great Dane 48’ spread-axle. Before delivering the old trailer to its new owner, Kris removed the blue reefer unit cover panels from his old unit and reinstalled them on the new one. He then painted the rails black, covered the rear doors with a vinyl graphic featuring his logo, installed custom black fenders, added watermelon-style cab lights down the top and bottom rail on each side of the trailer (and across the front), installed blue LED lights underneath, and switched out the stock wheels to 22.5 “smoothies” to match the truck’s rear wheels. But he wasn’t done with it, yet.
Preparing for the 2009 truck show in Las Vegas, Kris decided it was time to really do his interior right. He sent the truck to CG Customs in Manteca, CA where they completely redid the entire interior in just ten days. The door panels, ceiling and wrap-around boot were all done in black suede with imitation crocodile inserts, and the closet doors were replaced. The truck has had several different floors including the stock rubber mat, wood, vinyl, marble and tile, but it now has black carpet (this is the first time Kris has ever had carpet inside any of his trucks). A lot of time and money had just been spent on the truck’s interior, so you can imagine Kris’ utter frustration when one of the judges in Las Vegas said to him, “Good start on the interior.”
Unfortunately, on April 6, 2010, Kris was involved in an accident and his truck and trailer (mostly the trailer) suffered some damage. Kris was okay, but his trailer was completely totaled, and has since been replaced with another 2001 Great Dane, currently being customized to look exactly like the one you see here. Also, the front of the truck was smashed (Kris was rear-ended by a truck and pushed into the back of another truck as he sat stopped in a construction zone), requiring Kris to replace the hood, the radiator and front bumper. Once again, taking advantage of the hood being off the truck, Kris painted his engine black and polished out several of the engine’s accessories. By the time you read this article, Kris and his complete combination should be good as new and back on the road, looking exactly as it does in the pictures here.
Kris wanted to thank everyone that has helped him on his trucking journey, including his awesome mom and dad, Jon and Bonnie, who were married for over 40 years (Kris lost his mom in 2008 to cancer), his sister Karlynn (Kris calls her the smart one), 100 Proof Ink (they did the vinyl on his rear doors), the Botelho family, Francisco (the mad polisher), “Uncle Bob” at Cherokee Truck Parts in Stockton, Dave, Rick and Gill at Shane & Dave’s Truck Shop, and, of course, Angelina for being at his side through thick and thin. We at 10-4 wanted to thank Kris for being so patient with us – he has been waiting to be on the cover of the magazine since he sent us an e-mail in February of 2007, and since February of this year, when we took these pictures at San Luis Reservoir near Los Banos. As you can see in a few of the photos, we had a lot of fun goofing-off with these silly folks!
Today, Angelina helps Kris find loads and takes care of the “behind the scenes” stuff that comes along with trucking. Kris is back to hauling frozen chicken and produce between California and Arizona, and really likes it (this ain’t no show truck – this rig works hard every day). Kris plans to run this truck until someone tells him he can’t anymore – which he hopes is a long time.
Kris might look a bit rough, and people might wonder what all his “lowlife” stuff is all about, but when it comes down to it, Kris is a solid guy. Yes, he has a lot of tattoos, and yes, he comes across as a bit of a bad boy, but the “lowlife” is not so bad – in fact, it is exactly where Kris Gaare wants to be. As he has always said, “There’s no life like the lowlife!”