Look for a local astronomical society ... I am a member here in Fort Worth and we do monthly star parties. These are great for checking out all the different scopes, find out if they have any of these locally.
Personally I own a Celestron C6 mounted on a Vixen GPD2 EQ mount. You really don't need to spend $$$ on goto ... all I have is a clock drive on the RA axis. I use a Rigel Systems red dot 1x finder along with a cheap pair of binos to find stuff. I use Pocket Universe on my iPad for a star atlas.
Big dobs really bring in the light but they are not fun to haul around ... get the biggest scope that 1)easily fits in your car, 2)not too heavy or cumbersome to carry ... that way chances are you will actually use it.