Your temp probably rose as a result of having the cooker open to do the flipping/re-baconing-- more oxygen stoked the fire. Left alone it would have returned to where it was before opening. I always strategize in order to make opening the cooker as short an event as possible, even if it means putting the meat out on a platter and replacing the lid while I work on it.
When making vent adjustments, I never change by more than about one quarter open or closed at a time and give it 20-30 minutes to react. Knee-jerk reactions to 10 or 15 degree drops or rises, opening and shutting vents, will have you yo-yo-ing all cook.
Tom, while it would seem logical that temperature and moisture loss are directly related, it depends on what you are cooking, and what the goal is. In the case of BBQ meats, the breaking down of collagen is the goal, which is a function of time, but not an infinite amount of time. Cooking too long at a too-low temp will have the same deleterious effect on meat moisture, just as much as if you nuked it at a higher temp for a short time, only dfference being the too-slow cooked meat would be tender (relative to the quick-cooked anyway).