Holy crap, what a post! Thanks so much for all the info, I took a screenshot to be able to go back to!
I figured a proper carb rebuild would be in order before going too far along. When I pulled the carb off the adapter what did I find but a soaked gasket and gasoline all over the back side of the adapter, so clearly I had a significant vacuum leak if fuel was making it all the way through this! I went ahead and rebuilt the carb, put a new gasket on, and bolted it all back up. Will fire up in the morning but I would surely think this would be the source of my problems