Well, if you made it out there, wherever "there" actually is, you obviously weren't afraid to jump randomly before you took a break!
Strip some of your components down to D class and upgrade your FSD if you can. That will boost your jump range. The Viper's range is pretty poor anyway, even with an A-grade FSD. Fit a class 3 fuel scoop to make it harder to run out of fuel. You can always sell it later for 100% of the price you bought it and upgrade the D-rated parts as and when you have the cash to do so.
WRT a system to go to, try Skinfaxi. It has a great RES around Skinfaxi 5, has a Federation faction in-system and is only 0.75LY from Jarnae, where you should be able to cash Empire bounties at Kagan Installation. it's about 50LY from Eravate/LHS3447 (the starter systems). Watt's Co-Operative also has a great outfitters - literally everything for the Viper can be found there.
Happy shooting.