No, that’s not a swear word, it’s a small town in north central Nevada along Interstate 80.  We decided to stop here en route to Lake Tahoe only because we weren’t tired from driving yet, and because we wanted to be a few miles closer to Tahoe so that we could roll into town a little earlier.  We found a free camping area on Campendium called “Water Canyon”, located just to the south of town and in the foothills.  Wow, were we ever surprised by this place.  A short, but beautiful drive up Water Canyon and we found ourselves in an oasis of sorts, one that is somewhat hard to believe given that it’s in the middle of nowhere.  On a related note, I find myself using, and perhaps over-using, the phrase “in the middle of nowhere”.  But it’s been very relevant and meaningful for the places that we have found.  We set out on this journey looking for the nooks and crannies of our beautiful country, and to do that, we have spent little to no time in our big cities, and we have avoided the interstate highway system wherever possible.  In the case of Winnemucca, we thought for sure that it would simply be a place to crash for the night only because it was located just off Interstate 80.  Boy, were we ever wrong.  The free campsites were awesome up in Water Canyon, and they got even better as we made the trip farther up the canyon.  Just when we arrived at the turnaround at the top, we were able to score the very last campsite, which just happened to be the best campsite in the canyon.   A bubbling brook was immediately adjacent to the site, and the site itself was set deep inside a grove of aspen trees.  The crazy thing was that it was Saturday night, and nobody was up using this great resource.  Thanks, BLM, it’s an amazing place, and a great value for seniors on a fixed budget.  We could have spent a week at this place, but it was wheels up first thing in the morning so that we could put an early morning beating on Tahoe.  Well, maybe it was 10AM or so when we finally rolled out of there.  No need to rush, there’s plenty more spots in the middle of nowhere, just elsewhere.  See you in Tahoe!