It's really not hard to get stated with html. 
Their are lots of html editors if you wish to 
avoid code, search download.com for "html 
editor." If you don't mind code, you've got some 
time it's going to be years of uploading 
otherwise, maybe check out webmonkey.com for some 
intro html pointers.

As for hosting, most ISP's I've dealt with do 
give their users some space to host a page. Myabe 
give them a call and ask. If not well, there are 
plenty of cheap webhosts out there.

As for rubberslug I cant say, i've never used it. 
For free your getting a fairly good deal online 
these days. Not even a popup to be seen.

As Drac mentions you don't really need a fancy 
page. Rubberslug pages seems to be a set of 
nested tables, vary the back ground colors, drop 
in a heading graphic, and fill in the content. 
Simple is good. In theory, your only going to 
have to design one page if you choose to make 
your own site. Once you have this template 
designed simply reuse it for each sub page, then 
link them all together.

At any rate you have a few options, and you can 
always ask more questions along the way.