How do you take a real week off when you're the only one running the business?

I run a one-person handyman business and I'm booked about three weeks out. I haven't taken more than two days off in two years, because every day I'm gone is a day nobody's picking up the phone. I've thought about passing the overflow to another guy in town, but I don't love sending my regulars somewhere else.

For the people who've been solo for years, how did the first real vacation actually go?