Father-and-son riders simplify RAGBRAI camping by bedding down in something every Iowa town has: gazebos
Philip JoensLYTTON, Ia. — Glenn Charles Peterson stood in a gazebo Monday morning, explaining to a half-dozen mystified strangers his version of no-frills camping during the Register's Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa.
It's simple. He and his adult son Gregory just find a town gazebo and bed down on the concrete floor.
“We don’t carry tents anymore,” the younger Peterson said. “Every town has a shelter.”
His father is riding his 28th RAGBRAI. The business cards he hands out give the details: “Virgin year 1993, Sioux City-Dubuque.” A West Des Moines resident, he is an ambassador for Team DeKalb, named for the seed company.
More:RAGBRAI overnight stop Iowa Falls is ready to show why it's called the Scenic City
At 7 a.m., he serenaded riders with “The Iowa Corn Song,” belting into a microphone, “We’re from I-O-way, I-O-way, state of the land. Joy on ev-ry hand. We’re from I-O-Way. That’s where tall corn grows!”
He is also a proud Des Moines Register man. In 1962, Peterson was working in the circulation department at the Register when he met his wife Corrinne in the typing pool on the sixth floor of the old Register & Tribune building. They married in 1965. He worked in the Register’s circulation department from 1962-1967.
“I love the paper,” he said.
Temperatures could reach the upper 90s when the ride reaches Waterloo on Wednesday, but he said he is unconcerned — perhaps as a man who sleeps on concrete gazebo floors across Iowa should be.
“I love hot,” Peterson said. “No worries. I’ll be fine.”
More:With highs in upper 90s predicted, towns prepare to help RABRAI riders cool down
