Okay, there's a lot in your post. But I think the overall effect is that you're using too much product, on too large of an area. You'll also almost certainly want to finish with a softer pad than an orange Lake Country.
I use a quick detailer to spray the pad before applying polish and work a small area, usually about 4 square feet at a time with as little polish as possible and when it's broken down enough, the pad has removed nearly all of it. If you have a lot of residue, you're using too much product or not breaking it down enough. I don't use a Flex, so can't comment on your speeds, but it never hurts to try a faster speed when using a random orbital. I tend to run my PC on 5.5 - 6.0.
I only use an orange LC on visibly marred cars with either Power Finish or Intensive Polish, I can usually get by with one pass of Power Finish on white pads and a pass of Nano on fresh white pads on my Jet Black car, followed by a glaze on a black pad to get to a swirl free finish. I like to change pads a few times each too, washing them out immediately and moving on to fresh pads when it starts to cake up at all. Just experiment, you'll find the right balance. A good LED or strong halogen light is also handy for really getting a sense of your true progress.
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