I am in Missoula, other side of the state. I fly to billings every now and then, but seldom land. We do aerial photos over there a lot. Its a 6 hour drive to get there, and about an hour and 45 minutes in the plane. fun!

Try G2 for getting used to the controls if you can get your hands on one. I was amazed at how good it is. I have been flying for over 27 years and use it to just fly once in a while and use it to learn new stuff for my heli. Lots of fun. Paid for itself many times over saving heli crashes.