I love this list.  I appreciate the honesty and "expressiveness" (for lack of a better word) from those with strongly held views.  I was strongly leaning toward moving to a bigger strip for initial flights, but some little rationalizing Self in the back of my mind said "well, it's really not necessary...the thing will take off in less than 1000 feet and climb at 1500 feet a minute where making the field in the event of a mishap will be easy..."  I'm well aware of the gottchas in the narrow-minded Self that resides back there, but that Self sometimes seems to behave like a little devil.

The responses to my question reinforce moving to a bigger stip, pretty uniformly.  Brent Regan's response especially drives home the point.  It also reminded me of the terrible mishap at the Regan Ranch a couple years ago, where a Lancair comrade was lost trying to maneuver into a small strip after hundreds of hours of experience, not on the first flight.  Almost makes me feel silly to have posed the question...but I'm glad I did.  I can always chalk it up to that rationalizing Self lurking in the background who often needs to be put in its place.

Thanks for the great responses,
Dan