By Matt Nauman
Mercury News

Jeanne Davis-Blair soon will leave the Bay Area to operate a bed-and-breakfast she bought in small-town Georgia, about 90 miles from Atlanta.

But, during these bicoastal days between her official retirement from BART and her move to Washington, Ga., she has been spending ``a tremendous amount'' to rent a car every time she makes a visit to her Southern Elegance Bed and Breakfast.

Figuring she'd better ship one of her two cars from California to Georgia, she turned to the Web. ``I have been an Internet shopper almost from the minute the Internet became available,'' Davis-Blair said.

And that's where she found uShip, where everyone from moving companies to cargo haulers to people with a truck and a trailer bid for shipping jobs.

UShip, based in Austin, matches people who need something shipped -- usually large items such as cars or furniture -- with people who carry cargo. Or, in Davis-Blair's case, with someone willing to drive her ``baby,'' a 1997 BMW 740 with less than 100,000 miles on the odometer, across the United States.

``For me, it was the best possible thing that could happen,'' she said. ``My car was driven and taken very good care of. It didn't get shaken up on a truck going cross-country.''

After 2,576 miles, her car was delivered on time and in good shape. The driver even had the oil changed and replaced a bad tire along the way...