Spook,

She's back and running!! It was pretty much exactly how you described, however amazingly the pin was still in the connecting rod bracket(no idea how that happened??) but it was completely disconnected from the gear selector lever. The E clip was gone. Got a new E-Clip from Autozone and voila. I will say that there is no way the connecting rod from the transmission is original because it seems like too loose of a fit around the gear selector lever, and it looks nothing like the diagram in the haynes manual. I noticed the gear selector felt looser when the transmission was replaced years back, but didn't think much of it. Seeing it with my own eyes now I realize it is a bit of a jerry-rig but if it lasts another 50k with no problems i'm happy.

On another note, I was going to post about my overheating problem before this came up, perhaps you or others can offer some advice. Last summer she would overheat when sitting in traffic from time to time. This summer if i'm sitting in traffic for more than 3-5 minutes BAM i'm in the red. Turning the heat on full blast usually takes care of the problem. as long as i'm driving 20 or more mph with few stops i'm ok, temp at 9:00. She runs fine on the highway.
Here's where the discrepancies come in...
Haynes manual says check the fan, according to them it should have good resistance when cold, and if the fan clutch is bad the fan will spin freely when hot. My fan spins about the same hot and cold, quarter turn at most, maybe slightly looser when hot but still with plenty of resistance. So I figure, well its not the fan clutch, but then I see threads on here that state the opposite of what the manual says...so I don't know what to think. As far as the thermostat, the Haynes manual says that if the thermostat is working, the hose between it and the radiator will be hot, as its open and letting the hot air through. Not only is my hose hot, it is SCALDING to the touch. But is this simple test just some B.S.? I wonder because the other day when i started it up for the morning, the temp seemed to be rising up to normal, i took my eyes off the gauge for a minute, looked back down and it was dead cold, and i proceeded to watch the temp come back up to its normal 9:00 position. So that may lend some credence to the possibility that the thermostat has grown a mind of its own. But again I wonder, with my symptoms, (overheating when sitting/idling, turning heat on cools it, no problems on highway), could there be a more sinister cause? Man i'm tired of sitting in traffic in 95 degrees of tennessee summer bliss with my heat on full blast. Spook, I'm hoping you can once again work your magic and offer a quick/easy/inexpensive fix. The last one cost me $0.32 so I challenge you to beat that!! :-)
In all seriousness, though, THANK YOU VERY MUCH for the help.