Latest update: I went to the HD dealer, talked with their "top mechanic" about my bike's issues, looked at and photographed the damaged parts, then loaded it up on a rented trailer and drove it to an independent shop (Sanger's Cycles) in Ft. Collins, Colorado and laid it all out for them. I asked them to detemine the cause and extent of the current issues before commencing repairs. The shop owner called last week confirmed the valve collision and zero compression in the front cylinder (due to slightly bent valve). He also inspected the complete engine and found that the cam chain tension was "collapsed". He attributed the valve collision to this cause and is "confident" that replacement of the bent valve (and several other related gaskets), removal of carbon deposits and a couple other minor tweaks will correct and restore this bike to full running order. He quoted a price that was less than half what the HD dealer wanted to charge me. And they never even determined why the collision happened so they'd have put it back together with the same collapsed cam chain! That would have been another engine disaster in no time.
I had used Sanger's Cycles when I first bought the bike in 2015 for some other work and they did a great job then. However, they are twice as far from my home so I started using a closer HD dealership. That's on me. Wish I would have stayed with the independent shop all along. But, I have learned my lesson. Quality and competence are worth my time and money.
Wyoming in winter is not riding season so I'll have to give a final report on this saga once the roads clear in the Spring and I can put some miles on this repair. Thanks for riding with me through this. I appreciate the wisdom and experience in this group.
Ride on,
wyobadger