So the original plan was to use nested LC statements to shift the layers.  That didn't work unless I proactively held one button and then rolled to the other.  Not a good typing experience.  At the recommendation of the QMK discord I ended up using combo keys.  This works, with the frustrating part being that I had to throw out the hour or so of work I did on the LC layers was wasted.  Plus, you have to create the combos by editing the raw C files and needs several lines for each combo, so it's a hassle.  As of right now I have the basic alphabet zone characters working and wrote the fist sentence of this log with it.  

One thing I want to note is that if you use combo keys with QMK you need to set the COMBO_LEN variable to the total number of combos you are using, the documentation I found didn't say anything about it and it took far too much research to figure it out. 

It's semi-intuitive, my brain doesn't grasp it yet but I can type without a guide on instinct a decent chunk of the time.  I won't win any typing competitions with it but can see it being a useful portable input device.