I just typed for 15 minutes explaining everything and pressed "Reply to Thread" instead of the button on the bottom "Post Quick Reply" which wiped out everything I typed. This might be something that could be fixed on the forum because I am sure I am not the only one and after this week, the last thing I needed was that.

At 5v the 470 ohm draws a little less than 11 mA and less than 1/16 of a watt. No smoke and I wouldn't expect any.

There are pauses to account for the LCD and I tried several different baud rates.

Power consumption is not an issue. During regular operation everything draws 10% of the regulator's maximum capacity.

During troubleshooting I went from cutting all the capacitors out to giving the ones normally in place other capacitors to hang out with so they wouldn't be lonely. None of it made a difference. Normally there are capacitors on both the supplied and supply side of all regulators as is the case here.

The resistor is the only thing that has worked. It was done on a hunch based on "time" fixing the problem and an assumption that there was some stored charge somewhere causing the issue. I don't know exactly why it works but for now it does and that is what I needed.