If bridging that 800 miles (statue miles I assume?) gap is the only reason you would want to learn to fly and acquire an airplane, I'd say don't do it.
A PPL will set you back about 10.000 USD (very rough figure - I don't know the exact cost in the US). That will limit you to good weather as you can't go anywhere near cloud. An instrument rating on top of that will probably another 10.000 USD. Add in some experience and you'll be looking at maybe 25.000 USD before you are capable enough to make such a trip with confidence in most weather. Note: "most". Not "all".
The next thing you need to do is acquire an aircraft and train on it. If you can limit yourself to two passengers, a Cirrus SR-22 (new: USD 600.000 plus) will probably do nicely. Yes, it has four seats, but don't expect to be able to fill all four seats and take a full load of fuel - which you need for that 800 mile journey.
A Cirrus SR-22, according to the web page, does 185 knots TAS but that's assuming no wind, and optimum altitude. So your four hour limit for that journey might be doable on a good day, but it may take 4.5 to 5 hours on a bad day. And the SR-22 is arguably the most capable and sophisticated single engine piston aircraft available today. (The Cessna-400 is not far off these figures, by the way.)
Sure, there are more capable aircraft, such as the Piper Malibu Meridian or the JetProp conversion but these cannot be flown on a SEP class rating. I don't know the exact rules in the US but expect possibly another 10.000 USD just for the course and exam alone. If you go for a VLJ such as the Cessna Citation Mustang the course time and cost will go up even more dramatically.
Then comes the cost of acquiring, maintaining, hangaring and insuring the aircraft, including complying (and thus, keeping up to date with) all legal requirements, service bulletins and so forth. Before you know it, you are running a mini-airline. (Did you know, for example, that your basic PPL already comes with two or three different expiration dates? It only gets worse from there.)
So by the time you are capable of doing that flight in most weather, and have an aircraft capable of doing so, you are probably two-three years down the road, will have spent maybe 25.000 USD in training alone and a multiple of that in aircraft acquisition. And the time gained vs. going on a commercial flight will probably be an hour or so, door to door.