thsi has been forever, i'm sure you've made a decision by now. Have you tried your county extension service for advice? I doubt there's a specialist, but they could surely point you toward other spinners. A national reference is 1-800-EXT-INFO.

Should a beginning spinner start by buying a wheel, should I start with the drop spindle, or should I try to find someone to teach me? Everything I read online says that it is easy to spin yarn, but it takes practice and skill to spin yarn well. Is this someone can easily learn on their own or do I need help?

Thanks

I taught myself how to spin on a spindle a few years ago, although I don't do it much anymore. I would say that starting with a drop spindle is probably a good idea so that you can learn the basic principles of spinning.
(They're pretty inexpensive, around $10.00, unless you buy one with fancy wood -- and you can make your own too. If you want to make your own from inexpensive items, try googling "making a spindle with old CD's". There was an article a while ago on this floating around).
It really is pretty easy to make basic yarn. Especially yarn that isn't plied, and that you don't mind is a bit uneven. If you want to make really fine and even yarns, that comes with practice. Some fibers are harder to spin than others -- alpaca being one of the harder ones (it's a very smooth and slippery fiber). Mohair is somewhere in the middle, but not considered to be the easiest to start with.
I've never spun on a wheel. If you eventually want to start spinning a lot of yarn for a sweater, then a wheel would make this go a lot faster! I also personally found that plying was difficult with a spindle (although many spindlers have worked out systems that work well for them, I just never bothered getting into it).Spindle lovers like the calm simplicity and portability of spindles.

Try this link to Spindlitis, an online spinning magazine: http://www.spindlitis.com/

Spinning can be a lot of fun and addictive!