Wow! What an adventure this chase led into. Back in September I received an e-mail from Rita Richards over in Phoenix, Arizona. She wrote in to let me know that she had found a great wine. Think that is odd? Not at all! Rita discovered a red wine called “If You See Kay.” No kidding! Rita warned me that it is very difficult to find. She first saw it at a country club in Phoenix, and she said as the name caught on, the price went way up. Beyond that, you have to have a liquor license to purchase it from a distributor. To find a retailer who carries it, get a list of retailer vendors from the distributor. Sound simple enough? Not! Let me tell you, finding a distributor is just the first in a series of hoops to jump through. I found a distributor in my area and got the list of retailers. The distributor said they sold “If You See Kay” wine to Nugget Markets. Cool! Off to Nuggett. Turned out that Nugget did not actually carry it “because of the name.” However, the liquor manager said he was sure BevMo carried it. Off to BevMo. They, too, did not carry it, but this liquor manager said he knew for a fact that a small wine shop in Old Town Napa carried it. Off to Napa. Sure enough, Back Room Wines at 1000 Main Street had it, and I got their last two bottles. “If You See Kay” is made by Jayson Woodbridge and Chris Radomski, partners in the Hundred Acre Winery in St. Helena. It is a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Petite Verdot and Primitivo with grapes from the vineyards of Lazio, Italy. Even with all that goodness inside the bottle, wait until you see the label. Kay is a tattooed woman with lots of skulls and attitude in a muscle car. Get online and look it up. The supply is running low, so the price is going up. Start your adventure. See if you can find a bottle of “If You See Kay”… Happy birthday to all you riders who celebrate in January. Happy birthday to IHR members Lorie Linderman in Shingle Springs, Will Long in Pocatello, Idaho, Mardi Moore in Boulder Creek, Cathy Young in Santa Cruz, and Diana Visage in Medford, Oregon. Happy birthday to Denise Peets in Long Beach, Gary Cook and Bill Katen in Sacramento, Peggy Harrington in San Jose, Rich Larson and Michael Zaballos in Santa Cruz, Elvira Nevarez in Woodland, Roger Gilbert in Monterey, and Mark Johnson in Las Vegas. Happy birthday to celebrity riders Nicholas Cage and Kid Rock… Exactly who is the S.M.R.A., a.k.a. the S.M.C.R.A.? They have been upsetting a lot of folks in Northern California. The Safety Motorcycle Rider Association, or the Safety Motor Cycle Rider Association, has been removing roadside memorials in the name of biker safety. Handwritten notes have been left in place of the memorials. One note said, “This structure has been removed by the S.M.C.R.A. Safe Motor Cycle Riders Assn. The structure is illegal and dangerous. Consider a motorcycle from either direction hitting an ice patch and sliding out of control, or a police officer en route to a call at a high speed. We are sure the persons who erected this had not thought about this and surely do not want this to happen. Numerous attempts have been left here asking for removal. Please do not re-erect.” Cindy Mattson of Rohnert Park said that the memorial to her daughter and another young woman was well off the road and had been there for almost 10 years. Tiffany Casson in Winters found a similar note left in place of the roadside memorial for her brother. Since Tiffany had worked at a bar in Winters, she knew quite a few bikers and had helped with many runs and events. She brought the note to ABATE #17 and asked them to look into the problem. She said the memorial had been about 30 feet off the road, and it had been there for over 11 years. Both families had maintained the memorials and did not consider them to be hazardous. The Mattson memorial was stainless steel and the Casson memorial was a 375-pound rock base with a refinished wooden cross. They were expensive and the families want them returned. If you have any information about the S.M.R.A., please contact the President of ABATE #17, Glenn Phillips, at president@abate17.org, or let me know and I will pass it on.
