You are 3 weeks away and you don't have a flight booked? You need to check out each airline's bike charge. Southwest is $50, and you don;' need to "squeeze" your bike. I fly with a CrateWorks box that holds my 60cm LHT (along with racks) quite well, and it's "airline legal." Some airlines charge hundreds for a bike. (E.g. U.S. Air is $200). For that amount of money, you can ship your bike UPS/FedEx and have it assembled, tuned and waiting for you. Just leave about 10 days for ground shipping just to be on the safe side. That's what we have done for our last two unsupported tours out west. We flew with our bikes to Cycle Oregon last year, but only because we flew Southwest, so it was cheaper than shipping. Bikes arrived no problem.