Rome, GA, Doc? That's my old daddy's birth place. I have kin among the Russells, Whittenburgs, and Gattises there, but haven't been in touch for many, many years.
You've given a good example of the fact that different motors ask for different things. I'm at around 800 ft. above sea level, so I'd guess that our running-around elevation averages out about the same. But on the XS650s that I've set up with VMs, with the same 2.5 slide and P-5 NJ, I'd have had a rich mess at idle even with the mix screw leaned out to the max, and that was the case with a 6DP1 needle on the middle notch as well as the 6F9 I came to prefer.
Looks like you have a fine machine, Doc. Congrats--keep the shiny side up!