OK, just having come back from an early morning ride...everything is back to normal...before I tried to "repair" the chain/cassette.

Went up and down bridges this morning in 7th gear and not even a hint of chain skipping. So, here's the way I see it...2 problems, one extending the other. First, wrong pulley, wrong place. Second...putting the chain back on not in the way it came off (but then, I never expected to have to put the old chain back on). Now, just waiting for the new chain (which the LBF, Performance Bike, was kind enough to expedite directly to my house....they normally charge if not delivered to the store for pick up, and shipping was more than 1/2 the price of the chain....bless their customer service hearts Then I can reinstall both the chain and new cassette (which is where this all started....)

I discovered 2 other potential problems I will need to deal with at some point. The cassette "wobble" I mentioned above seems to be due to somewhat excessive play in the freehub (afterall, it's only got 18K+ miles on it That may be a contributor to some of the chain shift issues that started me on this journey originally. The other is my rear rim looks like it has a very slight warp in it. Should prob'ly do something about that sometime soon.

Thanks again for everyone's help. It's amazing how just getting back to normal made me so happy this morning

Cheers...Steph