Many thanks to everyone for the variety of suggestion! To those of you who wondered where in SA, I am in Tucson. Phoenix is about 2 hours away. I'll try to research some of the leads. If anyone has further info to add given that I live in Tucson, feel free to share.

I'm probably going to try to find a workshop clinic or maybe do private lessons or both if I can find someone local. The workshop/clinics I'm willing to travel for. The other resources such as videos/books are also good but I'm going to get into those after I at least have one in person lesson/experience in some kind of form.

Desert Tortoise-no I have not ridden desert trails. I just know I'll need a hydration though. I heard about Bunny loop at Fantasy Island but I'm not comfortable to go by myself.