Mike demonstrated the phones to me with the rechargeable batteries and the
cigarette lighter adapter.  He finished his demonstration and introduced me to his
girlfriend Aissa.  I apologized for keeping her waiting for so long and I informed
her that I owed her a dinner some time soon.  I headed out to my car and they
headed off to a very late lunch.

I drove down the street from Sound Advice and stopped at the record store.  I
purchased about 10 to 15 CD's relating to the concert and drove back to
International Bikes.  I showed Carlos the cellular phones.  He was impressed.  But
it wasn't him I wanted to impress.  I needed to find René.  Carlos was so
impressed however that he asked me if he could work with me on the concert.  I
told him that I already had chosen René to work with me and that I really couldn't
use anybody else at the moment.  He shook his head and said "O.K." and he had
me show him how to use the cell phone.  

After he played with the phone he decided he wanted one too.  He asked me if I
would loan him the money so he could buy himself a phone.  He told me he could
really use a phone in Puerto Rico because the regular phone system was so
poor and hardly ever worked.  He promised to pay me back when we were in
Puerto Rico.  I agreed to loan him the money, but he would have to sign the
purchase and the service agreement of course.  He agreed.  

So I called Mike at Sound Advice and asked him to set up one more cellular
phone.  I explained to him the service would be in Carlos’ name, not mine.  I also
told him we couldn't come in until Carlos finished work at 9 p.m. this evening.  He
said it would be no problem except that he leaves work at 5 o'clock.   Thus, the
other Mike would close the deal for us when we came in at 9 p.m.  Carlos was
pretty happy about the prospect of having a cellular phone.  He went back into
the shop to work and I headed back to the hostel.

At the hostel I found Robert and Nurettim.  I told Nurettim I had dropped the bike
off at the bike shop so he could pick it up at the same time Robert rents his bike.  
They planned to leave tomorrow for the Keys.  I gave them the phone number
and address of Jan's Bed and Breakfast in Key West again and reconfirmed our
plan to meet them there on Wednesday the 27th sometime after 3 p.m.

Next I explained to them that I was going to Miami Beach to find René and check
out the newer hostel in Miami Beach.  Then I would return to Fort Lauderdale and
meet them here at the hostel at about 10 o'clock tonight.  They had made plans
to go out tonight with some girl they had met in Miami, so I might not see them
until Wednesday in Key West.

It was nearing 5 p.m. and I still needed to drive to the Sony repair depot to check
on my CD player.  I drove on I-95 heading south toward Miami from Fort
Lauderdale and made it to the shop shortly before they closed.  The service man
told me they had looked at the CD player and indeed a part was defective.  
Unfortunately, however, it would take three weeks to get the part needed to fix it.  
I said, "Thank you but as I explained to you earlier I am traveling and I don't have
three weeks here in Miami for you to fix my CD player.  That is why I requested
for you to replace it."  I took the player and left the store.

Once in the car I finally had the time to try my cellular phone for the first time.  I
plugged in the cigarette lighter attachment and connected the phone.  I called my
parents and spoke with my dad.  Since my father was keeping track of my Visa
bill and my bank account with me, the main part of the conversation consisted of
my explaining my expenditures in the past few days so he would know how much
to pay Visa from my bank account.  These expenditures were as follows:
Visa Expenses:

$500 cash to replenish the money spent so far from Vancouver to Florida.
$150 on a round-trip airline ticket from Miami to San Juan, Puerto Rico.
$800 on two cellular phones.
$150 on new CD's.
$200 on video attachments and CD player attachments
Traveler's Checks:
$250 on the used like-new Iguana Mountain Bike.  

I am sure my dad was quite surprised at my recent expenditures.  I also told him
Carlos’ full name and the name of the shop where he worked.  As usual, I gave
him my itinerary changes.  I told him when I planned to be back from Puerto Rico
on the 27th and that I was going to go to Jan's Bed and Breakfast in Key West
the day I returned to Miami.  After that I would continue my trip on to Jamaica.  I
asked him if he got the phone numbers for Marti and Dana.  He had not.

After finishing the conversation with my dad I called Sears MCI, my long distance
phone service, to see about getting toll free 800 numbers for my two cellular
phones.  I spoke with Michael M. who told me there was no problem in connecting
up the service but that it would be three weeks before they could be ready.  I told
him this was not acceptable.  I explained to him, that I had been an MCI customer
since MCI was founded and that I would like service completed in 3 days, not 3
weeks.  He told me he would need to check on that and I was to call him back
later today.  I finished my conversation with Michael M. and headed on down the
road to Miami Beach to find René.

















I arrived in Miami Beach just prior to sunset.  I parked in an open spot right in
front of the Greenbrier Hotel, the Miami Beach Youth Hostel.  I walked inside and
asked the hotel clerk if René was staying there.  Indeed he was.  The clerk gave
me his room number and I walked up to his room and knocked on his door.  A
hostel mate answered the door and let me in.  Just from my quick view I could
easily see that this hostel was not at all the same as the hostel in Fort
Lauderdale.  Comparatively, this one was excellent.  It had real beds, a television
in each room, a phone in each room, and as René pointed out, the swimming
pool, unlike the Ft. Lauderdale hostel, was clean and usable.  I told René that I
needed to talk to him for a minute and we walked on down stairs to the car.

I finally had the time to explain to him my concert plans.  I finally had the chance
to let him know that I really believed he was the man to work with me on this
project.  I told him that he would eventually need to go to college and get a
degree if he wished to work with me.  I had long ago decided that the persons
who worked with me would need a college education.  I showed him the cellular
phones and I explained to him that he could continue his travels to California and
beyond while I went on to Jamaica.  We would set up the concert by cellular
phone and meet in San Diego a few weeks prior to the concert.  By this time,
René had the look of total surprise on his face.

It was now René's turn to talk.  He explained to me that indeed he already had a
college education.  He graduated with a Business Degree in Marketing.  This
completely dumbfounded me.  I told him that was just what I needed, someone
who could sell the concert to large corporate sponsors.  He went on to tell me he
couldn't believe I had even found him here at the new hostel. He was impressed
that I was serious enough to track him down.  Furthermore, he was awed at my
offer to give him a cellular phone and my plans to put on a concert.  He knew I
was up to something for the past couple of days but he really didn't know what it
was.  

Well, now he knew and he was more than overwhelmed.  He told me all of this
was a bit too much for him right now and that he wanted to go home to
Amsterdam first before deciding whether to work with me.  I told him that I would
really need somebody now however for this project.  He explained again, he
couldn't decide right now.  So, I told him that whenever he decided to work with
me he most definitely would be welcomed.

Next, I told René that I needed to drive back to Fort Lauderdale to meet Carlos to
go get a cellular phone for him.  I explained that Carlos was not working with me,
just purchasing a phone with my credit.  I invited René to drive to Fort Lauderdale
with me to meet Carlos and pick up Carlos’ phone and he accepted.  

We arrived at Carlos’ bike shop in Fort Lauderdale just a few minutes before 9 p.
m.  I called the other Mike at Sound Advice to let him know we would be in only a
few minutes past 9 o'clock.  Carlos got off work and René and I drove to Sound
Advice with Carlos following behind us.  Upon arriving at Sound Advice Mike had
Carlos fill out the phone service credit form, which he had to Fax to Cellular One
for approval.  After half an hour of waiting for the approval, Mike decided that the
woman had gone home for the night and Carlos would have to wait until tomorrow
for his phone.  I explained to Mike that we would be in Puerto Rico tomorrow so
we would just have to cancel our order for now.  

We went outside and I decided to give Carlos the cellular phone meant for René.  
I did this so that I could phone him once I arrived in San Juan tomorrow since he
would be arriving several hours before me.  Carlos gave me his parent's phone
number and address and I gave him my cellular phone number.  Carlos drove off
to his apartment and René and I headed to the Fort Lauderdale hostel to see if
Robert and Nurettim wanted to stay with us at the Miami Beach hostel.  

While driving to the hostel I was talking so much with René that I was not paying
close attention to where I was driving.  After a few minutes I decided I was
suddenly lost, a very, very unusual thing to ever happen to me.  As René and I
were trying to gain our sense of location Carlos phoned me on the cellular phone
to test if it worked O.K.  I describe our location and asked him how to get back to
the hostel.  He told us how to get back to the bike shop on Sunrise Boulevard,
which would take us to the Ft. Lauderdale hostel.  I ended the conversation with
Carlos by telling him I'd see him tomorrow in Puerto Rico.  His test of the cellular
phone was successful.

Now, on our way back to the Ft. Lauderdale hostel I explained to René that I
needed to have someone return the rental car tomorrow here in Fort
Lauderdale.  My flight was at 9 a.m. and I couldn't return the car and make it back
to Miami International in time for my flight.  I asked if he could take me to the
airport and return the car.  He had no problem with that.

René and I made it back to the hostel without any problem.  Robert and Nurettim
were there, still waiting for the friend they had met in Miami to come pick them up
so they could stay the night at her house.  Apparently the hostel management
had finally caught on that they were sleeping illegally behind the hostel and told
them they couldn't do that anymore.  I invited them to come stay the night at the
hostel in Miami Beach with René and me.  Then tomorrow after René takes me to
the airport they could ride with René up to the bike shop in Fort Lauderdale
where René was to return the car to the rental agency down the street.  They
decided to wait and see if their friend came first.  If she didn't show up within the
hour they would go to Miami Beach with René and me.

As we were waiting René suddenly remembers he is supposed to go on a date
tonight with Misha, the girl he met on Saturday night at the Parrot Club.  He goes
off to call her and comes back to tell me indeed he has a date with her and she's
coming in a few minutes to pick him up.  Shortly after 11 p.m. she arrives and
they are off.  Robert and Nurettim are still waiting for their friend, so I go off to the
pay phone to make a few calls.

One person I needed to call was my ex-boyfriend's grandmother Vi in Avalon,
California, on Santa Catalina Island.  I had just realized that her granddaughter,
Marsha, was finishing her last six months of her Spanish degree on an island
somewhere in the Caribbean.  Like others, Marsha had asked me to try and visit
her when I was in Jamaica.  I had told her I would try.  However, I couldn't
remember which island she was on.  So I asked her grandmother which island it
was.  Low and behold and oh lucky me, she was on the island of Puerto Rico.  Vi
gave me Marsha's phone number and address.  She also told me that, Joe and
Lori, Marsha's parents, happened to be visiting Marsha the week.  Now I knew I
had better visit Marsha for sure.  After phoning another friend in San Diego I
headed back to the hostel to check on Robert and Nurettim.  

While I was on the phone, the friend they were waiting for had indeed shown up
and they were just loading their belongings into her car and heading off for the
night to stay at her house.  I told them I'd see them next week in Key West and
they drove away.

Since I was not checked into a hostel yet anywhere, I could either stay the night
here in Fort Lauderdale or in Miami Beach.  I still reasoned that I needed to stay
in Miami Beach because I had to be at the airport in Miami at 9 a.m.  I hoped that
René would be back in Miami Beach early enough for my flight in the morning.  I
headed off down Interstate 95 alone.
2.6-2
Setting up the Concert
Monday Morning until Wednesday Morning
March 18th to March 20th, 1991
Miami Beach, Florida, USA
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