Larry,
I am a little jealous that you are ready to start using your teardrop and I am just now starting to build. Although this tear is my idea and primarily my project I will share with you that I am not a "camper". Lance and I love to travel and see new things, and for us the teardrop is a means to do more of that by doing it cheaply. I don't however, see myself hanging around in a primitive campsite for days at a time. I'm way too ADHD for that.
Buying a travel trailer and big expensive tow vehicle was out of the question for us. We needed a simpler more cost effective solution. We had spent four years living on boats, one only 24' feet long, so I knew that small spaces are not a problem for us. Our boats were usually pretty spartan in the way of conveniences also, so not having all the bells and whistles isn't a big deal either. None of our boats ever had a shower, we always used marina facilities so no problem there. When I stumbled upon teardrops I knew they were the perfect answer. The teardrop is going to be my ticket to more frequent and diverse vacations, and I am definitely a "means to an end kind of girl." And they're cute as hell. What could be better.
But I can totally relate to what you are going through with your wife, and can really relate to what she is feeling. My husband and I faced a similar situation once. And, although I don't know the reasons for her hesitancy, maybe I can give you some ideas to chew over.
When Lance first got the bug 30 years ago to buy a sailboat and sail off into the sunset, he was concerned about how he was going to sell me on the adventure. Although I have always loved the outdoors and particularly the water, I was a (very) nervous sailor in those early years, and the idea of trying to operate a primitive home in the middle of nowhere, hooked up to nothing, in a space the size of a modern day master bathroom, washing laundry in a bucket, and trying to cook while bouncing around with a frying pan in one hand and a death grip on a handrail with the other didn't really blow my skirt up.
He came upon this advice from a wise old sailor and it formed the basis for his approach to our sailing together. (I know you are not planning to teardrop off into the sunset, but I think a lot of this will still apply.)
If one partner is interested in the cruising lifestyle and the other is not, unless the interested party is willing to take a solo voyage (possibly permanently), they need to find a way to make the venture appealing to the other person. This might involve compromise, but if it's a matter of that or not going at all, it's worth the effort. So, if your idea of cruising is a month in a deserted anchorage and your wife's idea of roughing it is a 3-star, rather than a 4-star, hotel, maybe you can compromise by spending at least part of your cruising time in a nice marina with a pool and good restaurants nearby (also giving her a break from cooking). Make sure you include, and give equal time to, activities you both enjoy. And make sure that it doesn't become all work for her.
Sometimes it's natural to assume that the roles that we occupy in our home life will just translate into the cruising life. But when it comes down to it that might mean that she ends up doing the packing and unpacking, cleaning and cooking, while you "command the deck" and make decisions about routes and destinations. Make sure she gets to spend part of her day soaking up the sun too. Try to incorporate whatever conveniences, within reason, you feel will be important to her comfort, and include her in the decision making processes as much as she'll let you so she feels it is her adventure as well.
Of course there was a lot more to it, and this is camping not cruising, but you get the idea. I not only came to love sailing as much as Lance did (although we never did sail off into the sunset) but eventually I became committed to the idea of the lifestyle along with him.
I am sure that all it will take to win your wife over is going to be a couple of really fun excursions. So figure out what would be fun for her and make it happen. And if there are certain aspects of camping that you already know she has a nervousness about, do whatever you need to do to make sure you avoid those circumstances as much as possible the first couple of times.
Once she's hooked, reel her in and head for that isolated muddy campground.
Becky
by LDK » Mon Sep 26, 2011 5:43 pm 
), bath house and running water toilets, and even not to far from somewhere that has a small town to do stuff. Reason is if you all primitive on her at first she will hate it and not want to do it again no matter what (1st wife) but you make it so she will enjoy the experience and do some antiquing to boot (Coleman habit 
), you can get her to camp with you more often unless she likes the primitive camping experience already. We spend part of one day of every camping trip going to Wal-Mart (gotta see the other Rednecks in our natural habitat 
. Good luck on the camping trip.
