At the Stadium. I don't have to ship to Reno, but for Baton Rouge, I used USBC's Bowling Ball Express. It costs a little more than straight UPS or FedEx, but I feel it's worth the it.
I'm with milo on this one, as we are roughly from the same area.
Don't have to ship to Reno; in fact, there was a time once when I forgot a ball for D/S, that I made the drive back down the hill home to the Sacramento area, picked up that ball, and made the drive back up. Spoiled, am I.
For Vegas, I'm debating on the flight or the drive. If it were my wife and I, we'd make the flight. With kids now, we may drive. Accommodations wouldn't be the problem for us, as her parents life in Kingman, and I still have my apartment there (relatives are caring for it), so we're good there.
Anywhere else, I'd ship... unless I were using those Rhino Pro double ball bags that came out in the early 90s. I'd carry those on a flight, but with more than 4 balls, that may be a problem. I'd ship.
For those that ship, would you take the balls out of your bag/roller, and ship just the ball, or bag as well?
BL.