Thanks for this, miamijim. From my (somewhat limited) experience, I would say that your method is overkill - which, in this case, is a very good thing. If folks do it your way, it is highly unlikely that the bike will be damaged in transit.

As a suggestion, you might try your LBS for little plastic blocks to reinforce the front fork drop-outs. (The bikes that are shipped to them come with them, and they mostly get thrown away.) Front fork reinforcement is essential, as you point out, but not all of us have extra old front hubs we can use for this purpose.