Coverage can throw a monkey wrench in your plan too (especially in a holiday month), so play with a few scenarios to order your prefer offs wisely. IOW, don't limit yourself to 'blocks' of days off. think of every day individually, for which part of a block is most important. For example, if they give you coverage on Sat and Sun, would you rather start your 3 LC days on Friday or Saturday? Putting your off days in an order that accommodates that might save you some angst... Ok, I'm out!