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here is a pic after soaking all night. I was able to pry it apart a little. It does seem that it's simply not sliding up and down the splined shaft. Is it ok to try and pry it by sticking something between the detent plate and the arm that rotates? It appears if I can get it to move enough down the splined shaft enough to release the pin that holds it in the Park position it might start working. It probably needs to move down the splined shaft about 1/4 inch.

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I'd work it a little as best you can and get it back to the home lock position. Use the wire brush again or maybe even a strip of emery paper around the shaft followed by another liberal dose of fluid. If you have a small screwdriver or can fold a piece of emery paper the approximate size, gently scrape as many of the low areas between the splines as you can reach. The lever has very little clearance so any built up rust in those areas will also hinder movement. Be careful what you pry against and keep it close to the shaft or hub end but gentle use of a screwdriver between those two parts might bring it down a bit farther once the splines are cleaned and dosed again. Maybe do that once or twice.

I'm also concerned about the gearshift handle staying in the out position. To do that I would think the inner rod spring has completely lost it's tension or the rod is also stuck or has become disconnected from that lever somewhere.

There is a long spring which pushes against the bottom end of the internal rod. That should be keeping the lever you are working on pushed against the detent plate and also the operator lever pulled in toward the dash. What does the operator lever feel like when you try to push it forward -- does it go toward the dash or try to move any. Do you feel any kind of spring tension or does it feel like it is trying or actually moving anything in either direction?

The operator lever will push back and you feel a spring like resistance. But it's backwards as opposed to how it should be. By this I mean the operator lever is in the forward position as it would be when you pull it toward you. Like it said it will go backwards if you lightly push on it but comes right back foward when let go of it.

Success!

This morning I stopped by the storage facility for about 15 minutes to work on the problem. I was gently but firmly prying with a screwdriver and it popped loose and now seems to be working properly. The lever inside on the steering column has the correct spring tension where you need to pull it to you to engage it into the different gears. It went into N,H, L, and R just fine and then back into P as many times as I wanted to. I'll drive it this afternoon to be sure.

Thanks for all your help, solved the fast idle and this problem with you guy's advice!

Glad to hear that it's sorted out.

Congrats, but take a good look at those brake lines Ross pointed out.