During the time I was working at EAFB, I was living in California City. My wife Jan was spending most of her time in Marysville. We bought the Marysville house in 1976 when I was working at Beale Air Force Base BAFB. About every other weekend either Jan would drive down to California City or I would drive up to Marysville. In 1985 Jan and I moved to Everett, Wa and then to Japan. We kept the house in Marysville for our children and grandchildren that were living in the area.  

I still mowed the lawn and removed many tumbleweeds from the swimming pool. I continued to golf some evenings and play racquetball during lunch hour at work whenever I could. I did fall down several times on the racquetball court and tried to exercise at the base gym when not on the court. 

I did not notice any change in strength or ability to grip things. My work did require moving of electronic measuring equipment pushing and pulling of carts containing it. I did have a computer at my desk and was able to manipulate  the keyboard and mouse necessary to summarize and write reports. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. When Jan came down we spent time exploring around Cal City and the high desert area. Abandoned gold mines and ruins of towns built around them were favorite places to explore and photograph. We had bought a four-wheel drive Isuzu Trooper that we drove to many sites inaccessible with a normal automobile.

One weekend when Jan was with me in California City we decided to take a drive up Highway 395 to Whitney portal. From there we started on a short hike. After about 15 minutes I told Jan that I just could not continue hiking up the path as my legs were feeling very weak. My thought was the altitude, 10,000 feet, shortness of breath or just getting old was the reason.

There was one time I had a repairman climb on the roof of the two-story house in Cal City to replace a part on the air conditioner. The repair was done while I was at work and I was given the bill for the work which I thought was very high. In the high desert, in the summer any air conditioning work is pricey. The following weekend I decided to go up on the roof to see what the repair involved. Big mistake! Once I got up there I became very aware that I was not as strong as I thought. Climbing down took me quite a while and was exhausting. That was the first time I remembered being really afraid of falling.