While he was in Hawaii, I also paid to fly him to the "Big Island" (Hawaii) to speak with people (mostly astronomers and their children, though some people drove up from Hilo.)
https://blogs.oracle.com/barton808/entry/my_travels_in_hawai...
Since I was paying for his ticket, I knew he would be at the airport.
I lived in Hawaii at the time.
Back in Las Vegas (where I lived at the time), the book, and emacs, were new to me. I took it to read then.