Because of your location in the Southeastern US, I would highly recommend going with AB PLCs. I don't know about your exact location, but in most places around the south that i have worked, the AB distributors are significantly more helpful than the others.
I would stick with using a Micrologix1100 for your first projects if the I/O count isn't extremely large. The processor is relatively inexpensive(around $650 MSRP), and the programming software is free. It also has ethernet capability which is almost impossible to live without now days. As you figure things out and prove the usefulness of a PLC and have larger I/O projects, you can purchase the full blown RSLogix500 for programming the ML1400 or move to the compactlogix platflorm.
I would stick with using a Micrologix1100 for your first projects if the I/O count isn't extremely large. The processor is relatively inexpensive(around $650 MSRP), and the programming software is free. It also has ethernet capability which is almost impossible to live without now days. As you figure things out and prove the usefulness of a PLC and have larger I/O projects, you can purchase the full blown RSLogix500 for programming the ML1400 or move to the compactlogix platflorm.