In all honesty, look at getting a polarie or similar, and try some widefield shots using your existing camera and tripod.
e.g.
http://tinyurl.com/polarie
You can get some thrilling images this way, and get used to ploar alignment and stacking images and all the fun stuff without a big outlay.
Setup time is minimal and it is much lighter and less hassle than
If you get bored of the Polarie, they typically sell 2nd hand for about 80-90% of the purchase price, so it won't cost you much to try it out.
You can get great moon shots with a polarie and a reasonable focal length lens.
If you find you are enjoying being outside in the cold and dark, and setting up and solving simple tracking/alignment issues and all the post processing, then I would look at getting a scope and mount and adapters and all the gear.
If you find you really aren't feeling the joy of being outside on your own in the dark and cold for hours, then you haven't invested in a lot of new gear that you will lose 50% on if you decide to sell it up.
If you do enjoy it, you will get some great images, learn heaps and be ready for a big gun, and know what you like to image.
If so, you will probably find you will end up using the polarie alongside the big gear, giving you something to do whilst imaging, catpuring widefields alongside the more 'close-up' stuff from the big scope.
It really is the easiest way, with the fastest results and you get great shots and learn the ropes.
I mean, check these images out!
http://astrofanweb.de/joomla/index.p...tis&Itemid=143
The current IOTW on the front page of Ice In Space, could as just as easily have been done using a Polarie and a DSLR.