Cleburne’s temps last week, while uncomfortable, were thankfully well short of 116 degrees.
Such was not the case for Caring Senior Service founder and CEO Jeff Salter just a few days earlier.
“The rain and cold earlier on weren’t so bad,” Salter said. “The heat’s been much worse. I was riding about 30 miles outside of Phoenix when I had two flats on the trailer. You can imagine being on the side of the highway where the sun’s been beating down all day and it’s already 105 but on that road it feels like a lot more.
“I kept drinking as much water as I could. But, expending the energy changing those two bike trailer tires, even though it’s not much energy normally, in that heat it just makes you feel like you’re dead. I stood up once and thought, ‘Man, I might pass out here.’”
The only thing Salter could do at that point was pause, rest and calm himself. Stuck in the middle of nowhere, the closest anything was a rest stop about 10 miles away. Salter said he collected himself enough to finish changing the tires then set out toward the rest stop.
“By the time I got there the temperature had climbed to 116,” Salter said. “But, it’s a rest area, there’s no air conditioning anywhere so I really couldn’t get out of the heat.”
The next closest town sat about 30 miles away.
“Which, under normal circumstances is about an hour-and-a-half ride on the bike, but not in 116 degree temperatures,” Salter said. “That left me at the rest station with the choices of spending the night there, waiting until nighttime and riding my bicycle down the freeway in the dark or trying to flag down a ride.”
Fortunately for Salter, a man in a flatbed truck pulled into the rest stop shortly after and carted Salter and his electric bike to the next town.
Such perils aside, what many would dub foolhardy, Salter instead sees as adventuresome opportunity to raise awareness of issues affecting seniors and their care.
The funny part about it, Salter said, is that he was not an avid cyclist before he decided to set off on a cross-country trek.
“That’s why I chose an e-bike,” Salter said. “Because I felt like I wouldn’t be able to do this with a regular bicycle. As I was working up to the ride ahead of time, which I knew would take about four months, I’d go out and ride in the hottest part of the day where everyone else was heading out in the morning while it was still cool because I knew I was going to run into all kinds of weather on the ride.”
Salter set off April 1 from his San Antonio home intending to ride 9,000 miles to visit each Caring Senior Service office and franchise location.
“When I started the trip we had 45 locations in 22 states,” Salter said. “We’ve since added four new locations but haven’t added any new states.”
Caring Senior Service of Johnson County owner/administrator Kreshna Sheplear and staff, along with representatives from area senior care services and hospices, clacked plastic hand clappers and cheered July 27 as Salter pedaled into the Cleburne Chamber of Commerce’s parking lot.
With his U.S. tour nearing completion — Salter hoped to be home Sunday — said he’d rode through 30 states and logged more than 9.500 miles so far.
“Hey, but who’s counting, Qyn Hughes of Alpha Omega Hospice joked.
The small trailer connected to Salter’s bike sports numerous stickers of states several of which he had never previously visited or only passed through.
“I tried to stay off the highways as much as possible for the back country roads,” Salter said. “Highways and freeways are soul sucking, no fun because you’re riding and it’s just cars and trucks and you have to be on guard. Have to dodge the rubber from pieces of tires and, just a couple feet away, cars flying by at 75 mph.
“On the back roads you can take things in, relax. I found a lot of stuff you wouldn’t expect that was really cool. You get to see the real America, plus it’s all part of the journey versus the destination for me.”
Not that back road America lacks for challenges. Contrary to popular belief, Salter said, plenty of hills dot Kansas and Nebraska, for example.
“When you’re riding through those Midwest states in a car things fly by,” Salter said. “But on a bike you realize just how vast they are. It’s just field after field.”
Not to mention detours. Five miles in one day Salter came upon a washed-out section of county back road. Crews on hand were working to repair the damage but that would take hours and Salter was due at one of his centers later that same day. Turning back and going around would add 15 to 20 extra miles.
“But the workers told us —sometimes I had people riding with me, sometimes I was on my own — they could put us and our bikes in the lift bucket of their crane and lift us over one at a time,” Salter said. “So that’s what we did, no safety gear or nothing. Was quite an adventure that part.”
This year’s 30th anniversary of Caring Senior Service inspired Salter’s epic ride. Salter founded the company in 1991 in Odessa.
Caring Senior Service offices offer services to help seniors remain safe and at home. Services include personal care, transportation, meal preparation, medication reminders, companionship, errand service and more.
“I’ve devoted 30 years to helping seniors remain healthy, happy and at home,” Salter said. “So that’s another reason for this bike trip. I also wanted to visit all of our locations and meet the staff face to face as opposed to just having talked on the phone or Zoom meetings. For me that’s really motivating, to meet all these people in person who are so passionate about helping seniors.”
Tuesday, Salter added, marked his first visit to Cleburne.
The trip is also to raise awareness of Grab the Bars and Close the Gap.
“Grab the Bars is to raise awareness and money for senior care,” Salter said. “Falls are the leading cause of injury or death for seniors and we want to make a real impact there. For every $250 we raise we install grab bars in the home of a senior who wouldn’t otherwise be able to afford them.
“Close the Gap addresses gaps in communities and services in relation to senior care and issues. So this movement and this ride it to inspire others caregivers, those involved in technology and so forth to start businesses and services to help seniors at large.
“It’s also to recognize that companies dealing with senior issues each have their own mission to provide services to seniors, which is great. But also to try to bring those different individuals and entities together to kind of see the forest for the trees through working together to identify where gaps in senior care might exist and then working together to try to close those gaps.”
Sheplear and staff checked out Salter’s now somewhat worse for the wear E-bike and trailer before directing him into the chamber for a break from the heat and Chick-fil-A sandwiches.
“I’ve met [Salter] before,” Sheplear said. “But it’s great to have him in Cleburne for a visit and really cool how he’s put himself out there to ride around the country and visit all the locations.”
Inspiring in fact, to a point.
“That’s probably not going to happen,” Sheplear joked when asked if Salter’s 9,000 mile journey had her contemplating a similar expedition any time soon.
