UPDATE

Just got back from vacation (ugh...I did not want to come back!) and thought I'd post an update.

A couple days before leaving I added 1 qt of polyquat. The evening before leaving I added 4 jugs of 8.25% bleach. I left the SWCG on as normal (80%, pump running 12hrs/day). Remember my concern was the salt cell might fail while I was gone (it's showing it's age, hence the higher than normal setting).

I'm glad to report after being gone for a week the pool was perfectly clear...the bottom was covered with a lot of leaves though. FC is still at 12ppm.

Now the bad news. I asked a friend to check the skimmer baskets while I was gone. I figured this was a simple enough task. Well, she didn't seat the skimmer baskets all the way in so leaves got around the baskets. When I got home, both skimmers and the pipe openings below them were completely clogged. The pump basket was also completely clogged and had split down two sides from the pressure. I noticed the pressure gauge on the filter was only reading about half the normal pressure. I didn't think to check the SWCG to see if there was enough water flow for it to operate properly. I got everything cleared and the pump and motor seem OK, and the pressure gauge on the filter is reading normally. I hope the motor wasn't damaged; I had just installed a new motor last season.

So next time I'm going to just have to bite the bullet and drag out the mesh safety cover and cover the pool while we're gone so we won't have to worry about the skimmers clogging.