Really? Never? I'm sure there'll be someone if only in the closest city or something... Wow, that's a long time, maybe you should meet some over the net then or something? It's a great experience..
I live in a very rural town. I am surprised there is even a wal-mart near me haha! Buffalo NY is about 2 hours away, do you think they have an IBM ring?
Here's a link to find all of the local rings of IBM: http://www.magician.org/portal/ibm_localrings/US