Ah, shucks. 286 one-way miles from Torrence to Las Vegas? . . . I drove that for weekend Army Reserve drills for ten years so I could stay in a unit I particularly liked.
It's a long drive but it shouldn't take you all that long to get your ticket. When taking lessons, I was on the road during the week so I did 3-5 lesson and solo flying hours per weekend. (It would have been more but I was afflicted with strong motion sickness back then and had to wait between lessons to get over the bad effects.)
You could go to Las Vegas to fly on weekends, or arrange for an intense 2-week "vacation." Or, perhaps you could train with the CFI John likes and get transition training from Brian in a weekend.
Lots of options! Go fly! Have fun! Ed
