Cooking is going to be the difficult part. I've never had to cook while camping or think about it. I've always had someone who's WAY more experienced than me prepare stuff and cook etc. I'm usually the one helping with clean up or something like that.

I'll have plenty of time to read coming up. Where I live I have a couple good places to go walk around on weekends and just start with that. Maybe pack a backpack with 10 or so pounds of "gear" to feel what it's like to hike with the stuff. I'm sure as I explore the forum more I'll stumble upon all kinds of stuff. I just know I'll want light weight stuff just because I already know what 45 lbs feels like.