Icycle -
My GF and I completed a counter clockwise Hilo-to-Hilo circumnavigation just last November. We had a blast. We B&B'd all the way (these were my GF's first ever kind of long big riding days) so we wanted some cush-ness, and we didn't feel there were enough awesome campsites along the way to schlep camping stuff across the ocean. We flew United from SFO, and the bike charges were outrageous, $125 per bike per flight if I recall. We reassembled our bikes in our hotel room. For the trip back, we bought bike boxes from the LBS, and boxed our bikes right in their parking lot on our last day.
Our itinerary was pretty similar to what was described in the Slavinski book. The territory in the Big Island changes so dramatically from wind-ward to lee-ward, that you're seeing like every type of terrain there is! The triatheletes in their pointy helmets thought we were cute as they zoomed by us near Kona. Our B&B hosts graciously offered us rides wherever we wanted to go (and thoguht we were crazy). Volcanoes NP was awesome! If you'd like B&B or a few restaurant recommendations, PM, and I can send you some. Have fun!