FEATURES
DADDY DAUGHTER RIDE BY DANIEL YATES
I remember the first time I saw my Dad on a motorcycle . It was the late 1970 ’ s and after serving in the US Navy after college , he moved his family back home to Olustee Oklahoma to help run the family farm with my Grandfather . It wasn ’ t unusual for me to see my dad riding , running or operating a piece of farming equipment . Tractors of all sizes , horses , bulldozers , front end loaders , combines , cotton pickers , module builders , wheat trucks , you name it , he could operate it . So , when he pulled into the driveway with two motorcycles in the back of his farm truck , off-road bikes to be precise , my curiosity kicked into high gear . It didn ’ t take long for me to convince him to take me , and by default , my brother , for a ride on one .
I remember riding through the pasture , past the cattle pens , down to the creek and around the wheat field . I was small enough to ride on the tank with my dad behind me . It was my first ride on a motorcycle and I remember it clearly as if it were yesterday . The wind in my face , the smell of the air , first that unique cattle pen odor , switching to the musky smell of Turkey Creek , and then the smell of the wheat field as we zipped down the fence line back toward the house . I ’ ll never forget it .
In 2015 , I took my daughter , Katie , to her first motorcycle run . She was 10 years old and had been riding pretty regular with me for a year or so on short day trips . We packed our bags , hopped on my Street Glide , “ Betty ” and off we went with a group of friends on our first overnight motorcycle adventure .
While I knew everyone that was going along on the trip , I was a little concerned about having a 10 year old girl tag along . I didn ’ t want to slow up the fun since I was the only one with a kiddo in tow and I instructed everyone to “ just do your normal thing and I will hang out with my daughter ”. Now , if you know me , and you know some of the people that I ride with , you probably know where I am going with this . That whole weekend , everywhere we rode , every time we stopped at a location , every time there was any opportunity to get off the motorcycle , my daughter was grabbed by someone in the group and whisked away to have fun doing whatever was available at that specific stop . She posed
16 Thunder Roads Magazine of OK / AR