Hey Engraverwilliam!
I know you had a lot of faith in this mechanic, so I am very sorry to hear that this happened.
Your low mileage numbers after the repairs, even with you being in Cali stop & go traffic, did still have me wondering.
Might I make a suggestion? Check Ebay, etc. for C-10 Carbs, plus the classified section of this forum and the COG forum. If you can acquire an extra carb, send it to Steve In Sunny Florida, have him rebuild that one, and then swap out your current carb once you get it back.
That way, you won't have any more down time, assuming that your mechanic can get your bike in working order in the meantime, and solve your issue in the short term.
Also, I'd suggest that you think hard about rebuilding/replacing your petcock, if it wasn't left on prime.
We weren't kidding when we said we had very little faith in most mechanics, which is why most of us recommend just saving yourself the headache and having Steve do the job.
At least you caught it BEFORE you hit the starter button. A cylinder may still not have flooded, but yeah that's a scary thing...
Sorry to hear about your woes! Hopefully you get this straightened out in short order, and that you can continue to enjoy this bike after it's all said and done.