Investigating starting anew in Germany

Whether your idea is crazy or not largely depends on your German language skills (which would be key to finding jobs and social life, especially in a rural area like Rammstein) and how flexible you are with throwing out your lifestyle expectations and accepting a new and very different one.

Well this is the site to find expats. Under the site menu heading community/members you can for example find people listed by nationality. Two suggestions often repeated here are not to surround yourself with expats upon arrival if you want to integrate. The other is for both of you to learn German as well as possible if you don’t already. There seems to be a constant misperception that since Germans learn English in school and most can speak it passably well as a second language that German is somehow unimportant. Don’t speak rather fluent German and one will have eliminated themselves for 98% of job opportunities and severely limit their social life. Few people are happy here when they don’t know half of what is going on around them and they are always at the mercy of other people’s willingness to speak English to them. It’s the difference between survival and actually thriving.

Even with the best of intentions I know it can be hard for a complete beginner to learn German while in America. Courses really help since one makes a commitment and it is easier to stick to a regular effort. Self-learning with books, internet etc. is also possible but demands discipline to keep at it. But the more one learns beforehand the better. Even if one is not a t a high level upon arrival it can make the difference between then intensify their learning or simply being lost. Hit the ground running!

Also be informed of the legal situation. As a German you have no problem. And an American can visit as a tourist with no visa. But to actually immigrate and work then the logical pathway is to get your  spouse a family reunion visa. The will mean passing an A1 German language exam and that you find big enough accommodation and have adequate income or assets for both of you to live off of.

Congrats on your new idea for a new life!  I too, am attempting to make the
"change of a lifetime" to expat to Germany.  Both Beppi and Tom are here frequently to offer great advice.  As they both say, probably the biggest challenge will be in the language!  Right now, I am "self teaching" both from YouTube and as much as my girlfriend in Germany can help with. It's going slow, and as I'm much older, and she much younger, that too presents its challenges. Seems retired people are "dropped in a hole" in Germany particularly when it comes to insurance, this even mentioned by one of several insurance companies she has talked to.  I visited Germany in Oct. '18 and found it very pleasant, very beautiful, but at least in Hesse, very different.  Lots of tiny villages with cramped in houses, expensive rent, lots of hilly, winding highways.  I live in the flatlands with plenty of room to roam and individual houses scattered everywhere, probly much like Utah.
So once I get to where I can get my insurance and at least talk small sentences, then I will "get myself there"!  Good luck in your venture, and keep us posted!