I don't know if I have mentioned this before but I can be really simple sometimes.....  I'm glad I asked because it kept me looking for the solution instead of restoring defaults but I did figure it out on my own.

 I had the render dimensions set ridiculously high.  So when I would see the finished render I would only see a small portion of it.   2560 x1920 - my moniter is not that big lol.  Also explains why the renders were taking sooooo long.  

smdh

I am:  aka Velocity3d