Sent to Us by
Vintage Redwood Company
Visalia, California

March 29, 2004

Hello,

My name is Jim Simons. Recently, I attended a three-day ski and sled clinic hosted by The Ski Patrol at one of Lake Tahoe’s premier Ski Resorts. We skied and trained with sleds on some of the most demanding terrain this great resort has to offer. And naturally, at the end of the day we were treated to some great beer, compliments of our hosts. Your beer tap, the 50500 US Sankey, was the delivery system we were using. The patrol had just gotten this tapper (the patrol leader was quite impressed with it) and after a few miscues, foam and such, the thing seemed to settle down to its assigned duty of beer delivery.

The second evening there was the keg and tap out in the snow again, so naturally, we toasted to another great day. After awhile, the transition began from one resort to one of the homes where the traditional party/dinner was held. This is where things began to go downhill for me. Wanting to be of service I offered my pickup as a transport vehicle for the keg and tapper. After all, the drive was less than a mile and mine was the only vehicle that could move the keg with the tap attached. I remember driving so carefully as not to tip the keg over, but to my utter horror, when I looked in the mirror, the keg was there, but the tap was gone—just vanished! I retracted my route and sure enough, there it was, right in the middle of the road, and upon examination, some SUV must have stepped on it, because it was broken!

Now, I’m faced with a real problem—a keg with no hole in it to get the beer out. The prize new tap is useless. So as not to incur the wrath of a great group of fellow patrollers, I drove down to Tahoe City and rented a tap from a local grocery store, you know, the old fashion pump kind. Well needless to say when I returned to the party things did not go well. There was no concern for me, but a chorus of “where’s the beer been?” and “you broke our what?” I was not culpable, but it was in my possession, so I am going to fix the thing for them.

I will give you guys a call tomorrow morning, get a return authorization number, and beg for mercy when you see the thing. I need it fixed. Why it fell out on me is anyone’s guess. We will accomplish great inter-patrol politics if I get the tap back to them this year before the end of the season.

Very Truly Yours,
Jim Simons
Ski Patrol Volunteer