I hear you. Small town most of my life. I was in h.s. in the 80s so I was just the right age for it. The way I got into it was strictly because EQ had an official fan zine that advertised in the comics. That zine allowed the actual fan-run zines to advertise in them and that's how I found true fandom (I did have the same thing in the official Star Trek and Star wars zines but I was younger, junior high and literally elementary school and I was SO young I was shut out by the older fans)