Have you tried asking if anyone here on the quilting board lives in your area?
If things go as discussed and plans don't change, cbridges and I are going to meet this evening at the local quilt guild and attend our first meeting together. I hope this will be the start of a nice friendship. She had read my profile and PM'd me asking where I lived. We are almost neighbors. As the crow flys our towns are only a few miles away from each other.
Also the LQS is also a great idea, I bet there are few quilters who are like you, looking for a quilting friend. Good luck.