How to carry a tripod?

My tripod came with a carrying bag, but I hardly ever use it. Instead, I made a strap out of an old camera strap and I sling it over my shoulder. I did see some guy once with this really neat thigh holster (like for one of those really big western guns) and he had his tripod in that!

Monopod, it's easier, they also make em' with legs that pop out.

I've got a monopod too, but I only really use it when I'm using a longer lens for a while.  I've got a Sigma 70-200ex that's just too much to handhold for very long so it stays on my monopod on a ball head.  For what I want to do tomorrow - panoramics and HDR - I don't think a monopod would work as well though.

Usually I do what Bob mentioned and just fold up the legs and throw it on my shoulder.  Works fairly well. 

We'll see how this works.  Turns out my tripod legs have a loop on them, for I assume some type of strap.  I've got an extra OpTech strap laying around so I hooked it up to the loop.  It's not great, but it should be better than carrying it.  Plus I've got the same type of connections on my camera so I can hook my camera to the tripod and have a little safety net if the quick release plate fails. 

I invested in a carbon fiber tripod for location use- all of my other tripods weigh a ton and my bones are getting older so a hate too much weight.

Aside from that- I find it is easy to install D-rings or straps with D-rings to the tripod and carry it around like a riffle.  I don't like carrying it to locations with the camera attached for safety reasons so I use a quick release adaptation to mount on dismount the camera.

I use a well padded shoulder strap so the thing does not dig a hole in my shoulder or my collar bone.

Mono-pods and other such devices are OK bit with longer lenses there is nothing like a good solid tripod to insure sharpness.  Even with a solid tripod, I find that it is important to mount long lenses directly on their own tripod socket and add additional support by using an articulated arm (such as the Manfrotto Magic Arm) to support the camera body as well. Even the sharpest telephoto lens can produce less that acceptable images if vibration, mirror slap or even slight camera movement is factored in- especially at lower shutter speeds.My experience is that every time I decided to leave the tripod at the studio or in the car- I ended up needing one at the most inopportune times- so I drag it along just to be safe.  The Gitzo carbon fiber unit that I purchased is worth it's lack of weight in gold.  Although it is light weight it is solid as a rock even with a 4x5 view camera mounted on it and MF or DSLR cameras are a piece of cake- light weight sponge cake at that.

Oh!  One photographer I know transports her tripod on a golf bag cart with large wheels.

I hope this helps.