Plowman,
I congratulate you on your interest and ambition of joining our venerable institution. I am sure you will find out that once you join, it is impressed upon you that you are NOT to neglect your family and necessary avocations for the sake of freemasonry. We are a fraternity of men, striving to make good men better.
Jason has established this site very well with links to the various "Grand Lodges" for the various states. If you do not know where your local lodge is located, you can check the "Grand Lodge" website for all of the "Regular" lodges located under its jurisdiction. When you find the local lodge, if it has a website, it should be listed. If it does not have a website, it should list contact information for the lodge, or at the very least the address for the lodge. These should be your contact points. If you know of someone you think is a mason from your local area, you can ask them if they are in fact a mason, and express your interest, they should be very helpful in directing you to the individual(s) you should speak with. If you think that you know someone in the mason's, they (especially if they are a friend) would probably become your "recommender", but don't let it discourage you if don't know anyone personally. They will get to know you, and visit you, also, more often than not, you will discover that you actually know several individuals in the lodge, and not realize it.
If you feel better about finding information in the traditional way, pick up the phone book, listed under "fraternal organizations" there should be several listed with phone numbers and locations.
I urge you to make contact with someone locally, this makes things go quite a bit easier, than to fill out a petition online. These may be easier for you to fill out, but if the lodge doesn't recognize you it makes things more difficult.
Thanks for asking about petitioning, and please keep us informed about your decision and progress, also, Welcome to the Forums, I hope you enjoy your stay with us.