Ray, thank you for that link. I d/l the manual to keep for future reference.
Unfortunately (at least at the beginning) it was no help to me, as I didn't have the options listed available in my paper setup menus.
I finally got the setting to work, but it took an unexpected pathway to get it. In my paper setup menu I had NONE of the options for setting roll length, paper remaining, etc. But there was an unchecked option in the Maintenance menu for sheet paper remaining count. Just for kicks and grins, I checked (activated) it. Exited Maint Mode, powered up in normal mode and lo and behold, in my paper setup menu, I now HAD the options needed. Go figure on that one. Nowhere in either of the manuals (the one I downloaded nor the one w/the printer) did it mention anything about needing to activate the sheet paper count option in order to be able to access the roll paper setup options. Thanks for that documentation, Epson. All they stated was that roll paper must be unloaded to access the menu options.
Ah well, bottom line is now it's active, so I shouldn't have any more issues w/reaching the end of the roll in the middle of a print.
Thanks to everyone that offered help, and hopefully this will be useful to someone in the future.