Good idea? Bad idea?

As mentioned in a previous thread, I'm probably going to graduate school in the fall and I'll probably be taking some sort of trip in May and/or June.

One of my ideas is to do a cross country trip starting at the beginning of May. I'd really like one or two of my stops to involve some ski touring. Here's the problem: I'm a backcountry JONG. :o I haven't taken an avy level 1 course and I've never skinned; I have had a couple avy awareness sessions, read quite a bit of material, I have dug a pit.

Is this a reasonable goal? Gear isn't a problem and being in shape isn't a problem. Could I become prepared enough if I went with a group? Are there spring time avy courses? Would I be able to find a group willing to take a JONG out for a few days?