When I think back to how my daughter Jessica became involved with motorcycles, I realize that it all started early on a Sunday morning in August 2005 when I woke her up and asked if she wanted to come with me to breakfast. I had read on the internet that a group of riders from the Houston BMW club met every Sunday at a Denny's. It was time to go and meet them.

A few weeks before, I had bought a new K1200RS from a new dealership that had opened just 8 miles from our house. I had been out on the bike a few times during the previous weeks putting on enough miles to get the first service completed and now it was time for the first Sunday morning ride. Twelve year olds aren't known for their enthusiasm when woken up at six o'clock on Sunday mornings, but after a few seconds of wondering what the emergency could possibly be to be woken up so early, she decided that a motorcycle ride sounded like a good idea.

That first Sunday morning ride was a success. We walked into Denny's, saw the group of riders sitting at a table, introduced ourselves and were made welcome. There weren't any other kids there, and the majority of the riders were older than me, but Jessica wasn't intimidated by this older group of adults. We rode about 200 miles that day and had a great time.

The next Sunday when I woke her up, the immediate response was "I'll be ready in a few minutes." Neither of us has missed many Sundays since then; even during some of the colder mornings when it has only been a few degrees above freezing; or the summer months when it is already in the mid 70's at 6:30 in the morning when we leave the house.

My wife, Tracy, also likes to ride, but we didn't have a motorcycle that had a low enough seat. It didn't take long before we were back at the dealership, testing various models and finally purchasing an R1150R for her. Soon there were three of us going for breakfast, with an occasional appearance from David, our fourteen year old son. The breakfast tab at Denny's was growing. Our oldest daughter Michelle has never taken to motorcycling in the same way as her younger siblings. Perhaps it was the timing of everything, since she already had her car by the time we purchased the additional motorcycles. None the less she has been to Denny's a few times too.

In the spring of 2006, we went on a camping trip to the Hill Country west of San Antonio. It was a success, but there were some comments from our son that the passenger footrests on the R1150R were too "buzzy". In Texas at the age of fifteen, you are able to get a drivers permit to ride a 250cc motorcycle. Our son had just passed that age milestone, so it wasn't long before we had purchased a Ninja 250. He passed the MSF course and applied for his permit. However to keep him focused on school he wasn't allowed to ride it until school was out at the end of May. There were no complaints from Jessica, maybe just that the seat on the RS was a bit hard, but the idea of a drivers permit at fifteen was firmly implanted.

That summer was busy - we all had new bikes to ride and so many places to go! The first trip was a week in Arkansas. I planned a route that kept us away from most of the busy main roads and kept the daily distance down to 350 miles or so. We had installed bike-to-bike radios as well as an intercom for Jessica and me. We had a routine of me riding in front on the RS, David on his Ninja and then Tracy on her R1150R. The bike-to-bike radios really helped in teaching David how to ride safely. The instant communication to talk about road hazards or errors, made all the difference. The intercom also made for long conversations with Jessica.

The 2000 miles that we rode that week confirmed Jessica's assessment of the qualities of the RS' seat. I ordered Air Hawk's for us all. They made a great improvement on our next trip to New Mexico. David's skills were improving so we rode some longer distances. We visited Carlsbad Caverns, White Sands, the radio telescopes near Socorro, Taos and Capulin volcano. In all we covered about 3000 miles. The Ninja could easily run at the posted speeds; we were never deliberately going slowly because of it. The conversations with Jessica were getting really interesting.

In 2006 the national rally was in Vermont - a 5000 mile round trip from Houston. David and Jessica were keen to go, but then, what fifteen and thirteen year olds wouldn't want to go for a two week motorcycle trip. We rode on interstates until we were close enough to the Blue Ridge Parkway then rode all the way north on that including Skyline Drive. We weren't sure about the laws in New York for riding a motorcycle at fifteen, but David had his Texas permit and that would have to do. We had an interesting moment in West Virginia when it felt like the RS was riding in a rut on the road. The road was fine; the flat rear tire was the problem. Fortunately we came to a controlled stop, and a fellow rider who we had spoken to the day before stopped to help.

This was the second national rally I had been to; the other was twenty five years before in Tennessee where I was one of the British riders who flew their bikes to Toronto, and then rode down to the rally. In Vermont, for his efforts, David won the youngest rider award, something he would win again the next year in West Bend. The ride back home from Vermont included Niagara Falls, Elvis' house in Memphis, and our favorite roads in northwest Arkansas. The conversations with Jessica were now mind bending. On one occasion I had accidentally set my bike-to-bike radio to constantly transmit. Tracy and David had to endure a fifteen minute conversation about cows, and do French cows also say "moo"?

By the time we arrived home from Vermont, David and Jessica were 9 weeks into their summer vacation. The odometer on the Ninja read 11,111 miles. We had added sheepskin seat covers to the Air Hawks and for the most part the butt problems were solved.

By now we were regularly attending the monthly meetings of the Houston club where Jessica became the 50/50 ticket seller. At Thanksgiving, we went camping with some other club members in Fort Davis - a 650 mile ride to West Texas. It was really cold at night, certainly below freezing, but the days had clear blue skies - perfect riding weather. The hot coffee and breakfast from Ron and Dorothy Goodall was really appreciated.

In 2007 Jessica was once again at breakfast most Sunday mornings. We had various club trips to the Hill Country and the club rally in Smithville. The main trip for the year was the ride to West Bend for the national rally. Tracy decided not to come with us, and since David was now sixteen, he was allowed to ride the R1150R. The trip north included a slight detour to ride our favorite Arkansas roads - if you've ridden 123 going northwest from Highway 7 you'll know what I mean. By now I had bought Jessica an iPod and the conversations were back to a more sane level. However it did mean that I now had to endure the musical selections of a teenager since the iPod was plugged into the intercom. This had an unintended consequence while riding 123. I had installed a video camera on the RS to record some of the more interesting roads. I now have a video of my son on the R1150R going at a fairly brisk pace round the sweeping bends accompanied by the sound of my center stand scraping on the road as well as my bike revving harder than I would normally have ridden. It does say something about the smoothness of the RS motor at 8000 rpm in the lower gears - I only noticed it was revving that hard when I looked at the instruments. The only sound that I heard was the music from the iPod. I didn't hear anything from Jessica during that part of ride but she did say later we were riding quite fast.

We arrived at the West Bend rally early so that David could attend camp GEARS. Jessica was still too young to attend so we volunteered. We volunteered at just about everything. Martin Hobbs, the Volunteer Committee Chair, was so impressed that he gave Jessica a "Committee Chair" cap. We had a great time at the rally, much of it from the fun we had volunteering, something we hadn't done the previous year. At the end of the rally Jessica was so disappointed that it was over, to cheer her up I had to remind her it was only fifty one weeks until the next national rally.

After West Bend we decided to go to Mount Rushmore, it was only 1000 miles to the west - two 500 mile days. From there we could go 600 miles to Paonia for the Top of the Rockies rally, and then it was only 1100 miles to home. The Air Hawk seats and sheepskin covers were getting a work out.

At Thanksgiving, Jessica and I did another trip to Fort Davis with the Houston club. It was even colder this time. In the morning she was able to write a message in the frost that covered the bike. Ron and Dorothy were there once again. This time not only did we get breakfast but Jessica had the opportunity to ride Dorothy's dual sport in the car park. She was hooked and didn't come riding with me that day, instead preferring to stay with Dorothy. The weather forecast for the Saturday included snow so we left a day early. It was just as well we did, we found out later that there was four inches of snow on the ground on Saturday morning. It was definitely a cold 650 mile ride back home.

During that ride home I managed to injure my back while lifting the RS onto the center stand each time we stopped for gas or food. Finally when I rolled into the garage at home, it was all I could do to get the bike on the side stand and go to bed. For the next three weeks I was laid up in bed surfing the internet, but I did discover that the K1200LTs have a hydraulic center stand. Since I wasn't going to give up riding, and I didn't want to injure my back again, that was my next bike - and the rear seat was way more padded than the RS, even the backrest was heated, something I was sure Jessica would appreciate. I had ridden over 54,000 miles on the RS during the previous thirty months, the vast majority of them with Jessica as a passenger.

In 2008 we did our usual Sunday rides, Hill Country weekend and the national rally in Gillette. By now David was working during the summer and didn't want to take too much time off work, so Jessica and I rode to the rally ourselves. Of course it wasn't a straight trip. We rode through West Texas to get to the mountains in southern New Mexico, rode across some twisty roads to get to highway 191 near Clifton, AZ., then north to the Petrified Forest and Painted Desert, stopped at the Meteor Crater, Grand Canyon, Monument Valley, took a ferry across Lake Powell on our way to Zion national park in Utah, rode to the Bonneville Salt Flats, through Nevada and into Idaho where we followed the Snake River, crossed into Montana to ride the Beartooth Pass (a must if you are ever in that area), into Yellowstone finally arriving in Gillette in time for Camp GEARS. We rode 4200 miles instead of the 1400 that we would have done if we had gone straight there.

Shortly after the Gillette national rally Jessica turned fifteen. She had been counting down to this event for two years. Ninja 250s were in short supply, so she had to wait until November before we could buy one. I then spent many an afternoon in car parks watching her ride around in circles, starting, stopping, and turning - it made my head spin. In late December she passed her MSF course, and finally in January she rode her own bike around the streets near our home. We progressed to some of the smaller country roads, until finally on February 8^th of 2009 for the first time she rode her own bike to the Sunday breakfast, three and a half years after coming with me on that first morning. In addition to the miles on the RS, I had ridden 26,000 miles on the LT up to that day, about 15,000 of them with Jessica as a passenger. In total, of the 80,000 miles that I had ridden, Jessica was a passenger for at least 50,000 of them.

Now I'm planning our route to Johnson City, keeping the daily distance to about 350 miles, and intending to arrive early so Jessica can attend Camp GEARS. If you see a red Ninja 250 with Texas plates, you'll know she's arrived.

About the author: Dave has been riding BMW motorcycles since 1978 when he purchased an R100S. While living in London he was the Treasurer of the London section of the BMW Club. He currently lives in The Woodlands, TX and is the Vice President of the BMW Club of Houston.