there are LUG’s closer to you, like RichLUG.
Kent, I used to live in Richmond and was a member of RichLUG, so I am familiar with participating long distance. Even closer to you is HardLUG (www.hardlug.com). They meet at the Children’s Museum of Virginia in Portsmouth. I know that they have several active duty military in their group. As Greg also mentioned, BrickFair in late July-early August is a great Lego convention to go to if you can get away from work for a few days.