[karcey]

G'day Magnum, welcome to the forum. Learning for the complete beginner can be done on a wide variety of guitars, and the kind of guitar you get depends on 1. what you feel comfortable with and 2. who influences you.
I think in the first instance you need at least a salesman ... buying a musical instrument cold over the counter is too risky.
Guitar salesmen aren't all bad, in fact on this forum you'll find stories of how accommodating they can be. For my part I always make sure that any salesman who serves me can not only play guitar but play well. A lot of the salesmen in guitar shops also teach, so they have a better understanding of what a beginner needs.
Maybe you can drive to another town where there is a real guitar shop?
When you purchase a guitar, make sure the man plays it for you ... as you said, you don't have a friend to take along. The action should be low enough and the strings should ring true on each fret.
Check out both nylon string and steel string. Everyone has an opinion as to which is the best to begin on ... my advice here is to learn on the one that seems easiest to play. Notice I didn't say which one sounds best. You're going to spend many hours doing basic chords, scales and exercises. Your objective will be to get it to sound clean and get the fingers moving fast, and you don't need a $5000 guitar to do that. Blindfolded, most listeners couldn't pick a solid top from a laminate, so don't get suckered into that contest too early. If you buy accoustic electric with a pick-up there really is no difference between solid and laminate.
You WILL buy another guitar. In time as your interest develops you will progress to the next stage and get something which ideally suits your favoured music. That's when you spend wisely, because your hands and ears will be aware of what you're looking for. If you've not invested too much on your learner, you'll have more to spend later.
This is all just my opinion ... and you'll do whatever you feel is right. I wish you well.