From the absolute bottom of my heart, I thank everyone for all of the help. I used the KMC 8speed chain, was the perfect length right out of the box, didn't even need the chain tool but I'm thankful to have it.

I used the chain tool on the old chain to get a feel for how everything worked, etc and then tested my bike on a hill to see if anything skips and no, it doesn't.

The bike sat in a garage for decades and if you saw the guy who sold it to me, you'd wonder when he even rode a bike last. He was a big guy. I'm thinking the chain was just old and it couldn't keep up with the 100 miles per week I've been putting on it.

Again, thank you everyone for your help. My bicycle is very important to me and getting back and forth to class this last week without it was a good reminder.