Im thinking about learning cello, but....?

I live in an area where there just arent many teachers of stringed instuments in general. ive played guitar off and on for about a year but my biggest downfall is that i dont have that much time to practice. i absolutely love the sound of the cello, and have only started to truly appreciate it when i heard apocalyptica at ozzfest. my question here is this, cost aside, would i be able to teach myself a reasonable amount so that i could play basic songs and possibly move on to harder songs a few years down the road?