Unlike most builders who started their building journey after seeing the plane they would build at an airshow, I was just strolling down a row of hangars at CRQ, McClellan Palomar Airport in Carlsbad CA. I came accross an open door with a vari-ez inside. It belonged to a guy named Cari. When I saw it, he was doing a preflight. I wasn't about to interrupt although I wanted to given the strangeness of that airplane. (I had never seen one) All of a sudden he blurts out, "ever see one of these"? He must have read my inquisitive face well. "No, I haven't", I said, as I approached the canard.  So, from there, he goes on and on about how Burt Rutan designed it, and the performance,  who he bought it from, how he flew it to work in LA 3-5 days a week to work to avoid traffic, how much it cost, and that anyone can build one. "Why does that say experimental"?  "Oh, because the plane is homemade".  As he was talking, I won't soon forget what I thought the first time I looked in the cockpit. "Whoooaaa, that is REALLY small inside"....."Cool". I thought that was really neat. Wearing an airplane. As he continued to graciously offer all of this information, I was eating it up. I thanked him kindly and walked off. As you can tell, up to the point of meeting Cari, I did not know the EAA existed, nor had I ever heard the term "homebuilt aircraft". 
     Cari had mentioned that there was a gentleman by the name of Dave Lind a few hangars down who owned a long ez. A bigger version of his airplane.  Next thing I knew I was flying Dave's airplane from the back seat. Dave's Long was built to perfection and he told me a story about how he flew it from Carlsbad all the way to Hawaii and back. To this day, that boggles my mind. I suppose it helps that Dave is a retired United Airlines pilot. He built a large fuel tank to take up all of the aft seat. He said there were times when he lost radio contact. Just him, the hum of an engine, and a lot of water. 
     My next stop was the internet. Cari told me you can't build the EZ type anymore since plans are no longer sold. The first thing I found was Velocity. At that point, I had never heard of a Cozy. I was really excited about a Velocity and thought it possible that I might build one. Then the bomb dropped. For what I wanted, it was just too much lettuce. ( $ )  Back to the internet. It was then that I came accross Nat Puffer's website.  He designed the Cozy. After reading his information, I knew that was the "homebuilt" for me. I ordered the $500.00 plans without ever seeing one in person. (that's pretty much how I make all my decisions) no pissing around!