Ok, we'll I thought I'd better post and follow up on this. First I want to thank all who posted suggestions and ideas to try. Unfortunately, none of them worked
Because I was squeezed for time (had to catch a flight), I ended up driving the car 3 miles to a specialty BMW auto repair shop near my house, dropped it off at night, and left a note for them to take care of it and that I hope to get it back when I return. The drive there with none pressurized rear bags was brutal, I was driving 5mph!!
If you walked next to the car, you get there faster
However, this was important and key in helping not destroy the air struts bump stops. The shop did exactly what I asked them to do. With a GT1, reset the error and initiate the bags filling process
It worked and everything is back to normal now
In summary, I guess you can drive (well, I did) with newly installed rear air struts even if they are not pressurized but you have to be extremely careful minding every bump on the road. If you decide do so, you do it at your own risk. I'm just sharing my experience.
Smooth ride everyone and thx for chiming in. Hope this helps someone in the future.