Well that was crazy BUT… I have a renewed certificate.
I had to modify things a bit on the ExpressJS service to recognize the .well-known folder and to handle the incoming request for the file. Finally found examples on the net that outlined both with one route entry I would never have guessed.
Interestingly (I tested stuff for hours) I found a certbot example. It didn’t work as it was laid out but it provided a few steps to follow and I could see what did and didn’t work. Their example placed the .well-known folders in a folder named “static”. I wouldn’t matter what it was called just that it should hold static files and folders with static files. I have one named “public” for the index.html page for instance.
In any case the “test” mode on CTW seemed to find the folder (I’m guessing because I had a route designated). The actual renewal didn’t, insisting that the .well-known folder be where it thinks it should be. Which leads me to “what if you had an option to specify where the .well-known folder was”?
At this point I’m using my port 80 server and I’ll see if it can be tidied up / made smaller but it works and once again “I have my certificate renewed”.
Thanks for all your help. I really read all the explanations you provide. I am a firm believer in understanding a process rather than following some instructions.
Hooray!