I'm not sure I understand the details. Whenever I ride in a shoulder or bike lane I use the line, not the curb as my guide. Without a line, I'd still ignore how far away the curb is and use the traffic lanes as my guide. The laws in your state may say you need to be as far to the right as (insert a word stating with P here, but not the word possible). So, if it's safe to be way over by the curb, go for it. But it sounds like you already figured out it's safer to be away from the curb, so you did what's right.