I Am Thinking About Ham Radio

A few of the guys I work with and I got to talking one day about the "situation" we seem to be heading for and ham radio came up.  These guys are like minded and we talk all the time about this stuff-what we're doing, what we can be doing etc...  One of them is licenced in ham, the other is interested and I am intrigued.  I think a method of communication, especially for us rural types, is a necessity.  I found out that it really isn't that expensive to get into and the licencing isn't bad either.  I will be doing a lot of research on the subject and would like to know if any of you are ham's.  If so, can you advise me a bit?  I am totally green on the subject so anything you can share would be great.  I found this cool site: www.preparedham.com that is loaded with people willing to share info, so if you have given this some thought too check out the site.