I won't be buying any aircraft, unless a miracle happens and I get my vision. I hope I can get enough rides from gyroplane pilots to satisfy my addiction. Once you get flying in your blood, it won't come out.
I won't be attending any aviation events for a while, unless they are close to home. After attending the Cessna convention, I don't even want to see my credit card bill!
Matt,Just so you have a realistic expectation, In the Gyro World, 150 miles is very close. It just isn't going to get any better than that for 90% of the country. There just aren't Gyroplanes at every airport like there are Fixed wings. We are a very small percentage of general aviation and most people have to travel hundreds (if not thousands) of miles to get a ride or training. That's just the way it is. And it does cost money to fly. If you don't' have a budget available to put towards it, then it is unrealistic to expect to be able to fly. Certainly, if you can get around the right person, you may be able to get a free ride out of the goodness of some pilots heart occasionally, but it costs money to fly and it is unrealistic to believe you are going to be able to do any significant amount without having a budget to pay for it. And you are probably going to have to travel at least 150 miles to get around any at all.
If the cost of traveling a few hundred miles to get to a Rotorcraft Event seems unobtainable to you, to get around Gyros and get an opportunity to fly one, then realistically you are dreaming of getting involved in a sport that is beyond your means.
There may be some very big hearted Gyro guys down there, at your nearest local chapter that may be willing to go out of their way to get you to where you need to be, and to even donate a free flight to you, to let you experience that dream. But expecting that to happen on a repeated basis so you can get some flying in, is asking a lot more than what I believe is reasonable to expect. Traveling to a Fly In may cost you some money, but at least for most people, that cost is way less than what it takes to go flying. $200 per hour is typical training time in a two place Gyro. So getting half a dozen hours of flight time will typically cost you over $1,000.00.
There is nothing cheap, easy or convenient about learning to fly Gyroplanes. It is typically a very large sacrifice for most people to do it. Only the ones that really want it badly, and are able to make it a high enough priority in their lives, to overcome the many obstacles they will surely face, are able to overcome and make it into the air in a Gyro. With the extra challenges that you will face because of your blindness, this will not be easy for you, and it will surely test how bad you want it. But it won't be up to how generous someone else is, it will be up to how badly you want to make it happen. It really will be up to you to find a way to make it happen because I doubt anyone else will care enough for them to overcome all of the challenges for you. Best of luck!