Gig Harbor man to preach as he pedals across the country with his family

Gig Harbor man to preach as he pedals across the country with his family

Bob Mortimer likes to say that “ministry is what happens when you are on your way to do other things.”

So Monday, he and his family will dip the back tires of their bikes into the Pacific Ocean near Los Angeles and start pedaling east.
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While the goal is to bike 2,500 miles in five months to the Atlantic Ocean near Jacksonville, Fla., the trip is really about the ministry opportunities along the way.

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Mortimer lost both his legs and his left arm 35 years ago and has dedicated his life to motivating others to overcome their challenges.

While the Gig Harbor resident speaks all over the world, he believes the best way to spread his message is by hitting the road with his family.
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The Mortimers will be hard to miss as Bob hand-cranks his way eastward, leading his wife, Darla; 18-year-old son Grant; and 13-year-old daughter Chanel in front of a fifth-wheel trailer emblazoned with “Hope and Courage Across America.”

“We want to share our message with as many people as we can,” Mortimer said recently.

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This trip will be the second cross-country tour for the Mortimers. In 2008, they planned to bike 3,900 miles from Gig Harbor to New York City with a rigid schedule that included speaking engagements every Sunday.
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The family was in Montana when it became obvious they’d been a little overambitious. They were thrown off schedule by snowstorms and had to drive a section to make their next speaking engagement.

Mortimer felt guilty that night as he sent an email to the donors who sponsored the trip.

“The message I got back was, ‘We didn’t send you out there to ride a bike, we sent you to share your message,’” Mortimer said.

The family started making extra stops, speaking to more and more groups and talking to people along the side of the road.

“Our message is put your hope in Christ and have the courage to use that hope to face the challenges of your life,” Mortimer said.
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By the time they arrived in New York, they’d pedaled 2,500 of the 3,900 miles.

The plan was to bike the stretches they missed on the way home, but that plan didn’t work either after an accident in Indiana’s Amish country. They were riding in a buggy with an Amish family when it was hit by a feed truck.

Mortimer was thrown to the floor of the buggy. His family and their friends were scattered across the road.

His children were scuffed up, and Darla broke her kneecap. When Mortimer pulled himself from the wreckage, he noticed that his wife and children were tending to the injuries of the Amish family.
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“Here they were helping others while they were hurt,” Mortimer said. “I realized we weren’t just sharing this message of courage; we were learning it.”

The riding was done at that point, and when they returned home, Mortimer said, “It felt like the day after Christmas times 100.”

“With all the planning, that journey was our lives for a couple of years,” Mortimer said. “We were pretty shell-shocked that it was over.”
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Mortimer went back to his work as a motivational speaker and took speaking engagements at churches, military bases and other places all over the world.

When he speaks, he shares the story of how he used to be a partier without purpose before his brother drove him home from a party in 1976. His brother Tom took a corner too fast, and they spun out, hitting a power pole and sliding down an embankment.

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Neither was hurt, but when Bob walked back toward the road in the dark he didn’t see the downed power lines.

He doesn’t remember the 12,500 volts of electricity surging through his body. His next memory was signing a release so doctors could amputate his left arm. His right leg went two weeks later; a couple of months later doctors took his other leg.

In total he needed 12 surgeries – including skin grafts – over six months.

But the recovery didn’t start for four more years, Bob says – not until he met Darla Hollis, who was baby-sitting for his sister.
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“She said, ‘Bob, you have problems, and it has nothing to do with your missing limbs,’” Mortimer said.

Darla took him to church, and Mortimer’s life changed forever.

“I discovered hope,” he said. “And when I surrendered my life to hope in Christ, I also had courage.”

Soon he started sharing his story, and in 1989 he started Bob Mortimer Motivational Ministries.

In 2009, he started writing a book, “Hope and Courage Across America, ($20, hcjourney.org), that he self-published this month.
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While writing the book and reviewing Darla’s journal from the 2008 trip, he hatched the idea to bike across the country once more.

Not because they missed miles or the trip ended with an accident, but, Mortimer said, “because I realized we really had something special. It’s a great way to share our message.”

The family estimates the trip will cost about $300 per day, thanks in large part to sky-high gas prices. They are still raising funds.

Darla is quick to point out that gas prices climbed above $4 per gallon in 2008. While the cost was a concern then, at the first speaking engagement a man in the audience came forward and offered to pay for gas for the entire trip.

“We are going out with a lot of faith,” Darla said.
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Fundraising isn’t the only thing the Mortimers hope to finish along the way.

Grant and Chanel go to school online, and Grant is still a few physical education credits shy of graduation.

As it turns out, pedaling from California to Florida would be enough to satisfy his teachers.