A definite thank you for that info -- As of today, I put the valve cover back on and the air cleaner, and stated it up and it runs like it did before. Strange. I guess it didn't like sitting for 6 weeks which happened to be the coldest we have seen since 1919. After sitting in the garage for a few days, the truck is back to normal. Might have been some bad gas and coupled with the cold caused the carb to not work properly.
Still keeping my eye on it.
Kewl, no gas smell at all in the oil, and oil is clean, so was the top end under the cover. maybe the float got stuck or something.