<human>: Give me the gist of the text in a nutshell

So, 18 months ago, I went through a nasty divorce. She cheated on me, moved out of state back where her family lives, and our agreement means I have our now 2 year old around 60% of the time. This also results in me having long stretches of time (read: weeks) where I'm 100% bachelor.

I'll spare the rest of the details because this isn't the place. 

Anyways, I'm looking to get into dating. My biggest problem? I'm 27 years old and have never gone through an actual dating....process before. All of my dates/girlfriends/ex-wife have more or less come randomly, through friends, or internet forums, or Facebook in college. I've never joined an Internet dating site or "played the field". I don't even know where to start, where to go, what to do. I don't exactly have a ton of friends in my current location, and I don't like doing things by myself just to get out. The pressure is too high for me.

Is the easy answer just joining on online dating site and see what happens? I mean, I'm just bored, I want to enjoy life, preferably on the cheap because the divorce essentially made me broke. I provide what's necessary for my son and I and don't have much for anything else. Basically, I feel like I don't even have the money to date or have fun.

Then there's the question of women who want to take on the "single dad baggage". I certainly don't have any. I'm completely over my ex-wife, so that's not a problem. But I'm sure a lot of especially younger women will look at the fact I have a kid and cross me off their list. So I'd need some advice on that too. Is this really true?
<bot>: how does a single dad with no real friends or contacts find interesting and hopefully cheap things to do, maybe ending up in dates?