The Need for Speed Began Early - Leif at Hanau Bird Sanctuary, Germany - May 1979 - Age 3

From the time he was tiny, Leif loved speed. He once describe himself as an adrenaline junky, and I think he was right. He found speed exhilarating from the beginning.

This photo was taken at the Hanau Bird Sanctuary in Hanau, Germany, where we were visiting our friends the Fackrells. This old-fashioned kind of merry-go-round is seldom seen on playgrounds nowadays. It's probably been judged too dangerous, but it sure was fun! It consisted of a hub with several spokes going out, four I think, each with a seat and a minimal tubular "back" that curved around to be like handles. Like most of those old merry-go-rounds, someone had to do the running and pushing to give the kids on it a ride. There were other kids in the park that day and I don't know who the boy was that did the pushing, but he had them going pretty fast. See Leif's hair streaming out behind him?

See the look of utter joy on his face? This park provided plenty of places for him to climb and to whirl around fast, all-in-all a big hit with him.

I'm amused looking at these photos of the 1970s with the "stylish" clothing. Plaid was in, even for boys, even for men. They all had plaid pants.

This was taken in May 1979 when Leif was three years old. Ironically, Peter W. went to the American school in Hanau for one year, when he was fourteen and went to live with his mother and adoptive father in Aschaffenburg, the year before he immigrated to the USA.