Dan,
Can't help you with the drive, but a word of advice. Don't book your flight until the charter has reached 35 sales and is confirmed. I expect it to sell out, but you never know and a non refundable ticket to an event that isn't happening can be a real bummer. Tim will let everyone know just as soon as the trip is confirmed, or in the unlikely event, cancelled. The cut off date of July 31 allows everyone two months to get air tickets and most experts claim that the cheapest prices are somewhere between one and two months before the flight. For me, 6 weeks usually works.
Michael Allen