Would love to hear any tips/tricks/ and What Not To Do, if you are going on a tour that starts far from home.

A friend of ours is organizing a ride that leaves from Seattle, goes to Vancouver Island, ride 2.5 days then back to Seattle. Since we are already in Canada I was thinking it would be easier to meet the group at the ferry terminal.

BUT not sure of the best way to do this. It's a solid 1.5-2 day drive to Vancouver. Time off work and away from dog is a factor for DH. He has some crazy idea that we could bring the dog along, but to me that sound like a logistical nightmare. Maybe DH and I need to have a long, hard talk about the dog, who is perfectly fine for a few days at his kennel-free "overnight camp."

Flying is much quicker but I have no experience flying with bikes. Don't they have to be partly disassembled? And then to reassemble on the other end - I don't know how to do it, so would have to find an LBS to do it and that doesn't necessarily save time, does it?

Any advice would be much appreciated!