Keep your eyes on the prize.

But expect your vision to get foggy—with emotion. Maybe not crocodile tears, but certainly the lonely little tears of confusion, fear, and sheer Kierkegaardian angst.

In this BreakAway Kommittee’s case, the issues hitting the fan include: Transportation (Oy vey is mir, are we going to lose 6 or more days to flying, ferrying, taxi-ing, and schlepping in completely unpredictable vehicles?); What to bring (cameras, computers, toys, snorkel gear, and a guitar butt up against the ever-present uber-mantra “Travel light!”); where to stay (some prefer long, leisurely stays to hunker down and find a groove, while others want to see it all by moving around a lot).

We are deer in the headlights. Can’t see the bright lights hurling toward us through the weeps of emotion, though.

Pull off the road. Check your vision, map, and dipstick. Above all, remember the most relevant of The 5 5-word mantras: Everything is right on schedule.

ODDS OF GOING TODAY: 72.55%
BIGGEST OBSTACLE TODAY: Transportation
OPINION OF ISLAND TRANSPO BASED ON PAST TRIPS: Aaaaarrrgghh…

Reality check time. Running away is NOT a good idea. Don’t try this at home. Wouldn’t be prudent. Bad idea. Just stay home.

Fit hit the shan all over the place this weekend. MLHSHD (major league high stakes high drama). It’s all family and personal and serious and stuff, so you DON’T want to hear about it. Let’s just say that the world does NOT stop, genuflect, or even say, “How can I help?” when you’re trying to BreakAway. In fact, the treadmill only speeds up.

As George Jetson said over and over:

“Jane! Stop this crazy thing!?!”

Heck, on a good day, it’s nearly impossible to keep up with Stuff Management, dishwasher emptying, laundry mashing, and schedule shuffling. If you could beam me there, Scotty, to that island of peace, that would be great. But prepping and packing and transporting? Not peaceful at all. No way. No thanks.

Earth to Kirk: Sit down. Get back in your box. Don’t drink that Kool-aid and for God’s sake, don’t serve any to your family! Keep life simple. Go organic. Wear a helmet.

• BIGGEST OBSTACLE TODAY: Reality.
• ODDS OF GOING TODAY: 55% (Let’s get real…)

The short answer: It appears the Sabbatical schedule is taking shape. Let me tell you where we’re going (though we’ll probably end up someplace else…)

• St. John
• St. Vincent
• Bequia
• Grenada & the Grenadine Islands
• Puerto Rico

Odds are we’ll be sleeping in hotels, guesthouses, condos, lodges, resorts, and no doubt a shanty and airport and broken-down bus at some point. The itinerary is coming together in that way that 555-piece puzzles do: First around the corners; then the edges; then chunks of the multifarious middle. Then, abruptly…OO-bop sha-BAMM! It all somehow fits.

Leaving you to wonder: If it was all there in the first place; why was this so hard!?!

Kind readers, forgive me for neglecting to babble about the flurry of planning activity that precedes taking a 69-day Breakaway. But gosh, it just don’t make great reading. I know: I read it all…and then deleted half of it (not nearly enough).

Anyway, planning takes on a life of its own. I can’t keep up with it myself—to say nothing of the rest of life’s demands.

Tonight, BTW, that includes directing dozens of grade school musicians who will be serenading diners at the school’s annual fund-raising spaghetti dinner. (Funds go toward a class BreakAway for bonding and science to a lakeside retreat Up North.) With my 6th grade violinist, we shall perform 4 Beatles songs: Eleanor Rigby; Hide Your Love Away; Yellow Submarine; and Blackbird.

“Take these broken wings and learn to fly.
All your life
You were only waiting for this moment to arise.”

Thanks, Paul.

“And we live a life of ease.
Everyone of us has all we please.
Then the band begins to PLAY.”

Thanks, Ringo.

• COUNTDOWN: 43 Days
• ODDS OF GOING TODAY: 90%…a new HIGH! : )

How quickly things change.

Islands now in play: 10? 12? 55? Interesting options have arisen on many now, some large and some small. Grenada and the Grenadines (an archipelago of many isles) probably remain the top choice. But a new rental opportunity—one that’s hard to refuse—has come from Dominica. So that’s back in the running. Didn’t I write that off several days ago?

Be careful what you blog about!

St. Vincent looks alluring. Bequia (near St. Vincent) is calling. Carriacou (near Grenada) has some nice possibilities. And the flight home leaves from San Juan, so we’ll need to spend some time there before heading home—not only to see that American gem, but to break up the trip from way down near Venezuela to way up near Canada.

Of course, there are more outer islands near all of these—boat, ferry, sail, or swim. Yet I know my bias (especially with not enough days and 2 charming children, AllBoy & CurlyGirl) is to hunker down in one place, or maybe 2, but not more than 3. I am neither a pirate nor a Caribbean nomad. It’s better to make friends, get to know a place, and stop running around like bizzee Americans for a while.

I’m wondering if we’re being indecisive. But I’m not sure. Meantime, it’s sure swell to have options.

• ODDS OF GOING TODAY: 85%

Great news. We’ve given up hope on Hopetown, that warm village (with the cold swimming water) on Elbow Cay, Bahamas. There’s liberation in moving on, even if we know not where to.

Dominica, with its unfinished lovely house, has also come and gone, like so many Sundays. There’s something intimidating about a BreakAway where the most inviting villages are a 90-minute ride on bad roads from the main town. I’m like, maybe it’s not okay if it’s that hard to get an occasional New York Times or rub shoulders with a crowd of strangers. It just wasn’t coming together. Wasn’t meant to be.

So what about Grenada? How did that show up? The way that many of life’s mysteries get solved: Mere happenstance.

Picture this. I’m purging some files from a crowded drawer—to make room for new piles and files. One marked “Travel” gets rudely tossed in the garbage. I’m trying to hurry, but a little hunch says, “Open that up.”

So I do. I thumb through it. From way back in 1996, there’s an article I clipped from a local Sunday paper about Grenada. The picture under the headline all but transported me there.

That’s a feeling I’ve been waiting for.

Since, some quick research has brought forth a wide array of seductive options. The words “friendly, proud, warm” have described the people over and over. Some quick air connection probing has found connections surprisingly “easy” and inexpensive.

Maybe you were right, Ronnie. It’s time to invade Grenada! The obstacle course between here and there keeps growing and jolting. But at least there’s a distant destination to run toward. Now if we can only navigate the turbulent waters and get there in one piece…

• ODDS OF GOING TODAY: 65%
• ODDS THAT GRENADA IS THE PLACE: 80%
• BIGGEST FEARS ABOUT GOING: 2N2M (2 Numerous 2 Mention)

San Juan, Puerto Rico: The best place to fly home from.

• $206: The per-person cost of a one-way ticket on Delta from San Juan. Cheap cheap!
• Today: The day we decided on a date and bought the tickets. Non refundable.
• 2-24-08: The day we fly home.
• 69: Number of days we’ll be gone. If all goes as, dare I say, “planned.”
• 85% ODDS THAT WE’LL GO (OR…SIMPLY LOSE ANOTHER $824.)

The good news was: We were close on a lead for a nice house in Dominica, an island we’ve never visited but are curious about.

The bad news is: It’s off. PSYCHE!

It was fun while it lasted. The view from the roller coaster is stunning when you’re on the top and moving slowly. But then, you start falling, falling, falling—SCREAM!

That house is not only too expensive, but it is not yet finished. They say it WILL be by the time we’d get there. But we know islands enough to know…otherwise.

So we’re now looking at about 6 alterna-accomodations on Dominica. You know, jungle retreats, organic farms, little apartments. And the possibility of moving around a lot (yuck!) and gaining a lot of experiences (hit or miss).

Those options all come courtesy of a rental agent there. But there are more questions than answers, again. More unknowns than knowns.

So many dilemmas, so little time. Once again, winter in Minnesota ain’t sounding so bad.

Just don’t ask me about THAT in Jan or Feb.

• ODDS OF GOING: 30%

As my family plans our BreakAway, the biggest obstacle still facing us is finding a shanty (or castle—ha!) to crash in after the first few weeks on St. John. We have a few possibilities in play. Hooray!

Do they look perfect? Of course not! Are they for sure where we would choose to go? Heck, no. Desperate and late and frugal as we are, must we try to trust the fates and follow these leads like groupies follow rock stars? Therefore:

• ODDS OF GOING: 75% and holding…

Brrr. Pout. Sigh.

We’ve had some contact with folks who have houses, modest or otherwise, that we thought would be candidates for long-term rental. You see, most places rent by the week—and already have much of their season rented. So we can’t live there. And we don’t want to move around all the time, what with kids and work to do and all.

Anyway, no luck so far. Our alleged angels are either too expensive, not interested, unaligned with our schedule, or all the above. Maybe we’ve picked the wrong place to go. It’s a jungle down there.

We now don’t have one decent live lead in play. I’m like, we could end up living on the streets. Or worse yet, coming home with our tails between our legs to live out yet another tundra winter.

Plan Z, if all else fails, is now an overdue consideration. I love the Caribbean. But maybe she don’t love me. HELP!?!?!

• ODDS OF GOING: 33%, and dropping

Hello, World.

Please be kind. For some of us, this sort of exhibitionism is un-natural.

“This” is my blog—a word that always sounds to me like a three-dimensional burp. A noise your body makes when you’ve guzzled too much beer. (Don’t get any on ya…) And this is my first official blogpost. Sounds like funky body piercing.

The very thought of strangers reading my stuff makes me wince. Fortunately, I know better: 3 out of 4 blog readers are fellow bloggers, sniffing at each other (or so I’ve read). And most blogs get little attention in the crowded chaos and cacophony of the internet. So maybe there’s not much to worry about. And yet, maybe Link Love will save the world.

Still with me?

Hope so. We’ve got a lot of work to do.

LIKE…In 3 months, the next Sabbatical (a.k.a. BreakAway) begins. One-way air tickets will take us to St. John for about 17 days, and then…

LIKE…Where do we go from there? Could it be the Bahamas? Bermuda? Dominica? Grenada? Timbuktu? With some angst I must confess: I don’t know. Wasn’t it the late, great Donald Rumsfeld who once declared, “There are known knowns…There are unknown knowns…But there are also unknown unknowns.” Wow. How did he know? As for my troops, we just want to know…what are our marching orders?

That conversation has, at times, taken on a contentious, cocky tone that does NOT soothe the soul like a Sabbatical should. Sure, there are many options, but many more criteria and obstacles (known and unknown). Not to mention, the Caribbean is not exactly known for its easy transportation, affordable prices (on anything!), and transparency.

I mean, each and every island thinks of itself as an island unto itself. Island time rules, among other bizarre rules that take time to figure out. A ferry that runs “on the hour” may go awol, have a breakdown or mutiny, or take a week off for a holiday you’ve never heard of. Heck, there are countless languages, dialects, currencies, and chunks of sharp coral just waiting to slash and infect you during a simple snorkel outing. OUCH! No doubt: The planning is the hard part. Getting there is not always half the fun.

LIKE…What does one do with the feelings that arise now? You know: Fear, denial, panic, sticker-shock, nausea, family differences, what have ya. Wish I knew. Sometimes it sucks. I’m like, who needs THIS?

That all stated, we aim to go anyway. Or at least try. Having done this a few times before, I’m familiar with the emotional hurricanes that blow up about now. Good thing I’m much better as the years go by at managing such messes and stresses. HA!

• ODDS OF GOING: 55%
• TODAY’S BIGGEST BUTT: Cost—even a golf cart is $300/week in the Bahamas; airfare for one scenario just passed $8k (for cattle class, although in the islands you’re more likely to be seated with goats.)
• TODAY’S BIGGEST GROAN: The markets are sucking wind. How can one justify spending savings when those investments are worth less every day? Don’t postpone joy, sure, but on whose dime?
• TODAY’S BIGGEST INSPIRATION: It’s summer again here, and I want it to last forever. So remember: It does in the Caribbean!
• TODAY’S BIGGEST PROCRASTINATION: It’s summer again here, and I’m thinking maybe it will last forever (so we won’t need to go to the Caribbean!).
• TODAY’S PROMISE: A hot kayak ride at sunrise leaves a guy splashed with bliss and vinegary sweat.