So after I disassembled the hub looking for something that may have caused my problem, I didn't find anything except that some of the pawls weren't facing the right direction. The two pawls that are closet to the non-drive side have a "sloped" edge which is designed to make installation easier. RJ the bike guy discuses it in his disassembly video at the eleven minute mark.

Anyway, I had them facing the wrong way. Well for some reason after I reinstalled the pawls in the correct direction, all my problems were solved! And this was after a couple of times disassembling, tweaking, and reassembling.

So what does this mean? Was the internal mechanism not fully engaged in the hub the first couple of times around?

But anyway everything is hunky dory now!