Steve and I love adventures; we were married on a glacier in Alaska!  We have 4 grown children: Kyle, Kelly, Patrick and Melanie, and  one grandchild to date (Kallen).  We are retiring in 2010 with the terrific pension that 60 years of combined service with the government brings.

Outside of work and family we enjoy travel, NASCAR and RVing... So much so that we are giving up our stick and brick home to RV full time as soon as we retire.  

While I can't say for sure where or when we will eventually settle down, I do believe in my heart that there are unlimited opportunities for adventure out there and intend to take advantage of as many as our health and pensions will allow.  

 
We currently live in an awesome stick and brick house (literally) in Rancho Murieta, CA.  For those of you unfamiliar with Rancho Murieta it's a beautiful gated golf community east of Sacramento.  While we are not personally golfers, we do immensely enjoy driving our cart to the grocery store, Mexican restaurant, and of course the 19th Hole Sports Bar.

In addition to golfers our community has deer, turkeys, squirrels, raccoons, and occasional sightings of cougars (both 2 and 4 legged variety).  While we're not supposed to feed the wildlife it's awfully hard to resist at times, and wouldn't you think it's better for them to eat food placed out by well meaning residents than to be forced to eat carefully manicured gardens?

Steve grew up in Citrus Heights and Orangevale, CA, graduating from San Juan High School. His father, Chuck Sawyer, renowned Assistant Fire Chief for Citrus Heights, was so proud of Steve that he & Loretta decided to have 3 more children: Laura, Carl and Tim.  Steve's grandparents were ranchers in Orangevale, when they retired they "sold the farm" and took off in a 5th wheel to explore the country.

Steve went to work for Sacramento County in 1983 as a cook in the County Jail.  Despite his awesome skills behind the stove he didn't stay in the kitchen long... Steve's initiative and strong work ethic moved him to the Probation Department where his career took off.  Steve will retire as  the Probation department's Principal Information Technology Analyst responsible for the department's security electronics.

Karen grew up with visions of life as a housewife complete with white picket fence, family dog, pearl necklace and a nightly martini shaken, not stirred.  That bubble burst when she woke up one day at the age of 25, a divorced mother with 2 lovely babies,5 years of service on the books for the County of Sacramento and the realization that out of necessity her job had now become more than a temporary stop gap.  Karen rolled up her sleeves, got a bachelors degree at night while working for the county by day and her career blossomed.   

Once committed to a career with the County in lieu of the picket fence, Karen set her sights on an early retirement and full time RVing around the county.  For a few brief moments Karen considered a term in the Peace Corps after early retirement, but once she got past 30 she realized sleeping on the hard ground and using a ditch for a restroom was no a viable option for a 50+ retiree... and the comfort of an RV beaconed.

Karen was born in Portland, Oregon but moved to Sacramento when she was only a few weeks old.  Her father had an excellent career as a math teacher at Hiram Johnson High School and provided a great life for Karen, her sister Marie and brother Greg.