I decided to go for the update with my echo. I first defrosted all apps that were frozen. I then downloaded Vodoo OTA root keeper to have a backup of the SU binary. I temporarily removed root with the same app. I then tested to make sure I had no root and none of my apps that required it would work.
I went ahead with the update and of course still ended up with an error. Update not finished please contact sprint, or something like that. The phone was in endless boot loop and would not start. I did the power and volume up on restart for boot loader mode. I tried so many button combinations for manually entering recovery and could find nothing. I plug it in to my PC, try to get ADB to recognize it, and it won't see it. This is all being done with the notification light on and in yellow.
I unplug it and restart the phone. While its still booting over and over I connect it to my PC again. I notice when Kyocera comes on the screen my PC will pop up, removable drive found, and it would be there for about 2 to 3 seconds. Everytime the phone restarted my PC would see it for just a few seconds.
I open ADB, continually type adb devices in the command line and it comes back with the string I was waiting for. Now that I know it will be seen for those few seconds, I type adb reboot recovery over and over, and eventually got the command pushed to my phone.
I got into my custom recovery, restored my nandroid and I was back to good! The lesson of this story, enable USB debugging option in your settings and make backups often. I got lucky that I was able to restore my phone.
I just figured I would share this in case anyone else with root was thinking of trying.