cloud69
Your experience, by no means unique I am (not) pleased to say, would be typical of an airfield where there are at least 5x more schools than are needed for present day student numbers... but let's not go down there just now.
But there is little airfield choice in the area, within plausible driving distance. I would just throw some time+money at it and get the PPL done right there. Then you get to any "extras"...
If you want to fly around locally, just for fun, I can't help you but plenty of people can.
If you want to fly to go to places, the baseline is a PPL+IMCR. This can't be done on a shoestring, but you don't sound like the standard penniless PPL
So, next Q is: what's your budget?
I was very tempted to buy something to do the PPL in but insurance was the killer. So the best thing is to get your PPL ASAP and start looking around for a decent syndicate plane (IF there are any..) or even buying one, and do the IMCR in that. Currency on type is the name of the game there, and you will waste your time and money doing it in some piece of junk, only to spend another 20 hours getting used to something better later. It has to be on a Public Transport CofA. You need to be pretty focussed to do it this way; many instructors will try to discourage you, but it's the best way for for long term flying.
Doing the PPL in the USA is a very clever option if you get an FAA PPL also, because you can add an FAA IR to that later, and then if you buy an N-reg plane you get worldwide IFR privileges. This is the absolute business, without a doubt, for European touring - if that's what you want. But not many syndicates operate N-reg planes, and remember if you really want to fly IFR you would need to find one whose other members are keen IFR pilots with decent size pockets, otherwise the plane won't be maintained to the required standard.
Having said that, and never having flown in the USA, I have met very few active PPLs who did it in the USA. The small (overall, all things considered) cost saving becomes irrelevant in the long run and if it really matters that much, you won't be flying much afterwards!