Welcome.
I have had similar experience in the last few months or year getting back into taping, and I went through a similar process of starting small, and ending where I did, which is with a relatively conservative rig, but that offers excellent quality for the money, and I have made some great tapes.
I originally ran a Tascam Dr07mkii recorder, using Church Audio CA14 cardioids or omnis, along with the plain old ugly 9 volt battery box. I made some great tapes to my ears with this rig, both open and stealth. I had bought a relatively inexpensive Impact mic stand and a few cables to run open with.
I then bought a Naiant Tinybox to use as a preamp, and the recordings improved quite a bit using the same mics.
The next purchase was a set of Busman BSC1 mics with cardioid, omni and hypercardioid capsules. This was the last step in my taping rig, giving me a solid rig for almost any situation. All in, I am probably at about 1k for the whole thing.
I also have a Tascam Dr2d which I use for 4 channel recording (2 from a soundboard, and 2 from mics). Great little recorder!
If you have a budget of about $500, for a little more you could probably get a set of CA14 mics, a Naiant Tinybox, and the DR2d, which will allow for 2 or 4 channel recording. People have a huge crush on the Sony machine around here, but I honestly don't see what it would provide to me over the rig I put together, aside from a longer battery life, which isn't really an issue for me. With the CA14s, your Dr2d, and a battery box you'll be able to pull some great recordings. Add in the Tinybox and you're going to be even happier, but it is a bit of an expense.
Good luck and have fun!