RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Arkansas >> Prairie County >> Balle >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).

When in Balle, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Balle and the surrounding area.

  • Astronomy & Satellites ...
    • Whether using binoculars, a small telescope or the naked-eye, the Heavens-Above website can help you to find your way around the night-time sky. In addition to detailed sky charts, their website will help you find planets, asteriods, comets, satellites and their tracks across the sky.
    • To give accurate results, Heavens-Above requires the latitude and longitude of your location. As a starting point, when we link to Heavens-Above, we pass this GPS location for Balle:
    • 34.683983, -91.545964
    • Once you're on the Heavens-Above website, you can improve its accuracy by giving a more precise longitude and latitude as your actual position.
    • Open the Heavens-Above website centered on Balle
  • Bird Watching ...
    • We enjoy finding new spots for bird watching and we use the eBird website for local sighting reports and to help identify hotspots.
    • The eBird website is organized on a county-by-county basis. We have selected Prairie County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Prairie County
    • Since Balle is near Arkansas County and also Lonoke County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Arkansas County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Lonoke County
  • Waymarking ...
    • Looking for somewhere out of the ordinary? Find a unique place and want to share it with others? Then it's time to visit Waymarking.com:
    • Open the Waymark.com report for Balle

Curious and Interesting Names Near Balle ...

As we travel, we always see a community with a name that gives pause. While there are names which are interesting or familiar, some catch our attention or strike our fancy. We always wonder about such a name. If time permits and the community is not too far, we'll usually try to make a side-trip.

  • Crossroad
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northwest)
    • Crossroad is located in Prairie County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crossroad
  • Eden
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast)
    • Eden is located in Monroe County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eden
  • Goldman
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)
    • Goldman is located in Arkansas County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Goldman
  • Hallsville
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
    • Hallsville is located in Prairie County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hallsville
  • Harrys ‑ Historic
    (18 miles [29 km] to the north)
    • Harrys is located in Prairie County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harrys
  • Holdridge
    (18 miles [29 km] to the south)
    • Holdridge is located in Arkansas County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Holdridge
  • Lookout
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Lookout is located in Arkansas County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lookout
  • Park Grove
    (18 miles [29 km] to the east)
    • Park Grove is located in Monroe County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Park Grove
  • Peppers Lake
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Peppers Lake is located in Prairie County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Peppers Lake
  • Peppers Landing
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Peppers Landing is located in Prairie County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Peppers Landing
  • Plainview
    (18 miles [29 km] to the southeast)
    • Plainview is located in Arkansas County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Plainview
  • Spear ‑ Historic
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Spear is located in Prairie County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spear
  • Super ‑ Historic
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
    • Super is located in Arkansas County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Super

How Far From Balle to ...

We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a community such as Balle to various places of note, such as the White House.

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers and using the location of where the historic<1> community of Balle once stood, the straight-line distance<2> beginning in Balle and extending to:

  • Little Rock, which is the State Capital of Arkansas, lies 40 miles [64.4 km]<2> to the west (W). If you could walk a straight line from Balle to Little Rock, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take over two days to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take just about two full days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 852 miles [1,371.2 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take just about two full days, a buggy would take 34 days and walking would take 49 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,685 miles [10,758.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,412 miles [11,928.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,288 miles [8,510.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>We use the term 'Historic' broadly and it generally means that the community no longer exists. However, it can also mean that the community might still exist, but was significantly larger or had a more 'official' existence in the past than it does now. Unfortunately our sources of data have proven to be unreliable. If you can provide us with more specific information about Balle, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<2>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Balle) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<3>While we have tried to pick reasonable speeds, the rate of travel is very theoretical - obstacles like fences, hills, lakes, river crossings and rest stops have been ignored. When we say 'Days' of travel, we're assuming 8 hours of travel per day.
<4>The shortest line can be visualized by stretching a string on a Globe from Point A to Point B - this is known as a Great Circle Route. Where you might expect the shortest route from Balle to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Balle. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 34.6840, Longitude: -91.5460       In this case, the coordinates for Balle have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 316.707 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 312.957 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 312.061 degrees.