wow. ok so here's an update. I drove to salem, OR from the SF bay area on saturday. it was about a 10 hour drive. Sadly there was a problem with the paperwork and the doggy wasn't allowed on the plane. I drove back to the bay area on sunday (another 10 hours of mostly BEAUTIFUL scenery). On a side note I've decided to move back to Oregon. yeah the trip was that life changing for me. anyways, so my friend put the dog on a flight outta north carolina today but the flight stopped in Dallas and the flight from Dallas to SF was CANCELLED!!!!! the poor dog (LUCY) will be put on the next flight hopefully, but I still feel so bad she has to go on such a long and scary journey. I wish she could have just been flown to portland and I coulda picked her up in Salem and driven her back. please think good thought about this scared doggy.