I count myself among the lucky ones... my wife is the one that motivated me to get into canoe camping in the bdub after many years of being too busy with other things. I had done some canoe camping in Quebec as a teenager with my Boy Scout troop, and had spent several summers in northern Minnesota doing field geology (including one summer during which I lived in a tent at a campground for 11 weeks) before we were married, but had not been in the bdub before beyond a day trip or two.

She suggested that we take a trip for our 15th anniversary in 2004. We took a short "proof of concept" trip just after ice out in 2004 for our very first trip together. It was awesome. Saw only one other person on a solo trip the entire time. Our friends who had been to the bdub thought we were nuts for taking that trip which covered 8 lakes and 9 portages in 2 and a half days literally right after ice out as our first effort. We had a blast. We then took a slightly longer trip over our anniversary in September that year.

This year, she took a trip with some of her female friends in mid May. I was thrilled that she wanted to go up there with her friends, but definitely had to fight pangs of jealousy and envy. We took a family trip with our two daughters in August, and the two of us took a short trip in October.

Suffice to say the bug has bitten both of us hard and we are now addicted. While I hope to do a solo trip down the road, I really enjoy our trips together and would be hard pressed to opt for a solo trip if she wants to come along. I expect our future trips will get longer and more adventuresome (into the Q instead of just the bdub?) now that we know we do well together in the wilderness. I couldn't feel luckier...    ;D