MY MEMORIES

Charles Glenn Petersen

1983 - Mississippi Years

Denmark (continued)

The bridge was open to the general public on July 14, 1998, when the queen cut the ribbon. Two days before that there was a 60-mile bicycle ride around the northeastern part of Funen and then over the bridge to Zealand. I had disassembled my bike and packed it into a hard shelled box that was especially designed for transporting an individual bicycle on airplanes. I met a Danish friend Lars Tandrup at my hotel in Copenhagen and with our bicycles in the back, we drove to Korsør on the eastern side of the bridge. We were allowed to ride our bicycles over the bridge to the official starting point of the bicycle ride, crossing number one.

I had a sign pinned to my back that said, “Charles fra USA”. There were many thousands of bicyclists waiting for us to ride through the country side of Funen. The ride itself was reminiscent of RAGBRAI. I got several “Hi Charles” comments as we passed or were passed by other bicyclists during the ride. At the end of the country side ride, we went along the causeway leading to the high bridge then up and over it again, crossing number two.