Rebsix
Your story of the Gentle Lady brings back memories. I tried to self teach myself many years ago on that Plane. The problem I had was that I couldn't find a spot big enough to stretch the high-start all the way out. So I shortened the high-start, which also shortened my altitude, which in turn also shortened the life of my poor old Gentle Lady!

If I had to do over, I think a Glider would be a good type Plane to try and teach yourself on, but I personally would use an electric motor to get my altitude, and forget about the high-start. That thing was alot of work!