Thanks again for all the information. Its pretty hard to scare me in forums... I'm a member of a notoriously ultra harsh forum on the internet - but - I have to use it for the industry I work in... lol... It will take a bit of time to understand everything involved. I had no idea there was so much to learn before starting. I will take your recommendations. I was leaning toward taking the easy way out and paying to have a base model avatar made. But, I will try to deal with the free ones first.
There is a person who contacted me from a club last night. He said he gives a free mesh body and 2 free body parts. I'll see if I can locate the link later and post it here to see if anyone has any opinions on it. I understand from a different person that the hands, feet, head, hair, etc are all separate. So, I'm afraid I may not get a full body for 'free.'