Excellent info, thanks a BUNCH!
And I agree, didn't like the error, but only got so far with it. On it again today!

thanks again
--------------- Added 31 Dec 21 at 23:03 ---------------
Removed the /redirect-to from google, it's "processing", and tried the dragonbytes code suggestion, no change.
RedirectMatch 404 ^/redirect-to/.*$
Tried in a couple of different positions in my htaccess and no change. Came to the conclusion that I actually don't care - if someone clicks one of those, that's ok - it is essentially a 404.