Haha, 8-9 hours to "immigrate." Teehee. Sorry... My girls will soon be subject to a 31 hour train ride or a multi-day car ride just so I can go home for the summer, and that's all in the same country! Although to be fair, it FEELS like a completely foreign world over in North Dakota, compared to Oregon. And Canada is just two hours away...
Anyway... I've already taken the girls one several 6 hour car rides (they're just little travelers, I guess), and I left them in their cage. Make sure the cage is level and secure. Take the water bottle out, but make sure you provide them with hydrating fruits for the journey, and I always offered them the water bottle again if we stopped. Make sure they can't reach anything to chew, because as we know the little buggers WILL find a way to destroy it. I also wrapped them in a blanket for the ride, because it was snowing out, and I didn't want them to get drafts, but the blanket got several chew-holes in the process. Make sure to keep the heat/air conditioning on as appropriate to keep them at a happy temperature, even if you stop for lunch.
Take out any shifty/heavy toys, so that they don't get thrown off or pinched in a turn. And they'll probably just sleep the whole way anyway, so you don't really need to worry about them getting bored.