RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of California >> Fresno County >> Barstow >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Barstow, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Barstow 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 Barstow:
    • 36.815224, -119.969878
    • 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 Barstow
  • 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 Fresno County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Fresno County
    • Since Barstow is near Madera County and also Merced County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Madera County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Merced 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 Barstow

Communities Also Named Barstow ...

We found seven communities that are also named Barstow.

There is one other community in California that is also named Barstow.

Beyond California, we know of six communities that are located in the United States and Canada. Of these six communities, six are located in the United States and one is in Canada.

  • Communities Located In California ...
    • San Bernardino County
      • This Barstow is located in San Bernardino County and lies 212 miles [341.2 km]<1> to the southeast of the Barstow that is located in Fresno County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the San Bernardino County community of Barstow.
  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Illinois
      • Rock Island County
      • This Barstow is located in Rock Island County and lies 1,609 miles [2,589.4 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Barstow that is located in Fresno County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Rock Island County community of Barstow.
    • Kansas
      • Cowley County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<2> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Kansas community of Barstow [Cowley County].
    • Maryland
      • Calvert County
      • This Barstow is located in Calvert County and lies 2,350 miles [3,782 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Barstow that is located in Fresno County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Calvert County community of Barstow.
    • Ontario
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<2> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Ontario community of Barstow.
    • Texas
      • Ward County
      • This Barstow is located in Ward County and lies 1,015 miles [1,633.5 km]<1> to the east southeast of the Barstow that is located in Fresno County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Ward County community of Barstow.
    • Washington
      • Ferry County
      • This Barstow is located in Ferry County and lies 831 miles [1,337.4 km]<1> to the north of the Barstow that is located in Fresno County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Ferry County community of Barstow.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Barstow ...

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.

  • Fig Garden
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
    • Fig Garden is located in Fresno County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fig Garden
  • Floyd
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Floyd is located in Fresno County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Floyd
  • Gregg
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Gregg is located in Madera County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gregg
  • Highway City
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Highway City is located in Fresno County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Highway City
  • Italian Swiss Colony
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Italian Swiss Colony is located in Madera County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Italian Swiss Colony
  • Muscatel
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Muscatel is located in Fresno County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Muscatel
  • Riverview ‑ Historic
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Riverview is located in Fresno County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Riverview
  • Rolling Hills
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Rolling Hills is located in Madera County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rolling Hills

How Far From Barstow to ...

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

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Barstow and extending to:

  • Fresno, which is the Seat of Fresno County, lies 11 miles [17.7 km]<1> to the east. If you could walk a straight line from Barstow to Fresno, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take five to six hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take nearly four hours.
  • Sacramento, which is the State Capital of California, lies 147 miles [236.6 km] to the north northwest (NNW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than three hours, a buggy would take 6 days and walking would take 9 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 2,323 miles [3,738.5 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take 5 days, a buggy would take 91 days and walking would take 132 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 7,429 miles [11,955.8 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 8,197 miles [13,191.8 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 6,221 miles [10,011.7 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Barstow) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<2>If we encounter the name of what might be a community, our methodology is to add that name to our Gazetteer as a placeholder. As we find more information about that community, it will be added to our Gazetteer.

Just as a reminder: Our definition of a community is rather broad and includes those places (or areas) where several families lived and had a name which identified that place. For example, you might hear somebody say that they are going over to Rock Creek to see Pete ... Rock Creek is just a gas station and a couple of homes at the crossroads. While it might not be on the map, everybody in the area knows it by that name.

Places of interest include buildings at a crossroad, several families clustered in a hollow or maybe the location of a way station. It also includes places like mines, lumber camps, ferry crossings, etc. The community might still exist, is now gone or only existed for just a short period of time.

Also keep in mind that Barstow could have been on the original document by mistake, misspelled, the original/alternate name of a community that we've listed elsewhere or was placed in the wrong county. Sometimes a post office or train station would have a different name than the community where it's located, so two names might be referring to the same community - we're working to straighten it all out.
<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 Barstow 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 Barstow. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 36.8152, Longitude: -119.9699       In this case, the coordinates for Barstow have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 338.038 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 338.494 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 326.673 degrees.