Many thanks to Jeff, Carl, Ron and Richard... your sound advice is very much appreciated!
I feel right at home already with this group, and I hope to get to know you better with time. One of my favorite sayings is that "Common sense isn't very common!"... but you guys all take a very realistic approach to this situation. Yes, I probably could afford a larger airplane, but I'd also be putting myself in the situation I've seen other folks in... sitting in a lawn chair beside their airplane on a beautiful Sunday afternoon instead of FLYING!
I'm sure my "friends" mean well enough, but to a degree I'm sure that Jeff's comment about "snobbery" is somewhat true. Most everyone wants a P-51 (I got a ride in a dual stick P-51 last year and got to fly for about 15 minutes), but the $1.5 million or so is not only slightly out of my budget, but it simply doesn't make much sense in the real world. Getting an "education" at a reasonable cost as Jeff stated is my primary goal at the moment. If I need a bigger airplane one or two weekends a year then I'll simply rent one.
Thanks for your help, and please don't get bothered by my incessant yearning to know and understand more. I look forward to the day when my knowledge base has grown to where I can help someone with a question.
If there are any opinions about the performance differences between stock, Sparrowhawk and Sporthawks and their associated maintenance and operating costs I'm all ears.
Thanks again. I should get my "official" user ID tomorrow and I'll have a name (John) instead of "New Member 7."
