Thank you for all the help on this thread, I see I forgot to post the outcome and what I ended up doing. I made it back to California with no oil pan leaks and still have no leaks! I went with the plug at the auto parts store which was half a size bigger than my my original plug, as stated they had warned me not to go too fast and tight or else I could crack the pan and need a new one regardless. I noticed my new half a size bigger plug was much longer than the original and that kind of worried me, I put it on and SLOWLY began to turn it, stopping every so often to make sure it wasn't cracking and the closer I got to the middle the more it felt like it was going to tighten up even though I was only halfway there, I kept turning slowly and it eventually went all the way in and tightened, I started the car and did a test drive and she wasn't leaking!
Although the issue I have now is I'm not sure if it's wise to take it out for a oil change and if I should just do top changes through the dipstick until I can afford the pan replacement job..