Wilsons Sandbox

Hello Fellow KLR owners. I've been reading the threads over the last few weeks and finally found a used A-7 for $1500.00. It has 7600 miles on it. I love it! Until today. I was riding along and when I pulled in the clutch all of a sudden the idle got faster. Tried reving it to get it to kick down but no luck. Then I pushed the choke over and back and I came down to normal. Actually lower then normal idle. Then it spit and sputtered till I got up to speed and seemed OK. I was crusing along an then it died and there I was on the side of the road. Tried restarting and it cranked over but no start. Gas was fine, tried in res just to be sure , still nothing. Waited a few and with a combination of choke and throttle got it to run. It was running fast like it did earlier. Managed to get it home on the fast idle. WHAT IN THE WORLD IS GOING ON WITH MY NEW (used) BIKE? As a side note. I've had a backfiring problem when I decelerate since I got it. Ran good except for the backfiring until today. There doesn't seem to be any exhaust leaks at the header. I took off the gas line at the tank with the lever to on and no gas comes out. Is this normal? I did however turn it over with the gas line off and gas flows freely while it is cranking. Any help for a new KLR owner slightly disappointed. Barry A7