After some research about adapters and an evening trip to Home Depot I ended up talking to a guy in the plumbing aisle who suggested cutting off the old valve and putting on a compression fitting. The store plumbing guy said that will work just fine. I've finally got all of the necessary parts but will again wait until daylight to turn of the water at the curb and begin this next stage. I didn't have to make any extra trips for the guts of the tank, it's this old valve that has caused all of the chaos in the project.

Not much else got done today.