When he did his San Francisco book signing, my wife and I took the day off work, went and stood in a line that went around the block twice for 3-4 hours. It was getting close to the end of the signing window of time, so I started cutting up closer. Around the end of the time window, the line was still huuuge. Howard got up and got into the limo and went to LA where he stayed at the signing until the line was done...
That's the closest I've gotten to meet him.