Originally Posted by bedrock

The only thing to be wary of when getting your PPL at mom & pop's is aircraft and CFI availablity and training environment. It is a really good idea to fly 3x a week for the first 20 hrs or so. Of course, you have to be absolutley sure you are ahead in your academics. I've had a few students who were great at flying 2-3x a week, but not so good at studying. That is a huge waste of time and money, because no conscientious CFI will solo you before you've passed your pre-solo exam.

Personally, I think it's great to learn to fly in a low traffic class G or E airspace and then during x-country get exposure to towered airports and controlled airspace. A lot of the career pilot schools start you off at towered airports which will retard your progress at first, simply because it is info overload. Also, don't forget Sport Pilot where you can just plain learn to FLY and then add on all baggage. Some of the local FAA FSDO's run seminars on various interesting aviation topics--get on their email list. Start small and build up.