RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of California >> San Luis Obispo County >> Poloma >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Poloma, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Poloma 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 Poloma:
    • 35.459973, -120.627391
    • 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 Poloma
  • 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 San Luis Obispo County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for San Luis Obispo County
    • Since Poloma is near San Mateo County and also Monterey County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for San Mateo County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Monterey 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 Poloma

Curious and Interesting Names Near Poloma ...

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.

  • Dove ‑ Historic
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Dove is located in San Luis Obispo County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dove
  • Eaglet ‑ Historic
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
    • Eaglet is located in San Luis Obispo County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eaglet
  • Edna
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
    • Edna is located in San Luis Obispo County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Edna
  • Garden Farms
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Garden Farms is located in San Luis Obispo County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Garden Farms
  • Goldtree
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
    • Goldtree is located in San Luis Obispo County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Goldtree
  • Henry
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Henry is located in San Luis Obispo County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Henry
  • Miles
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
    • Miles is located in San Luis Obispo County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Miles
  • Navajo ‑ Historic
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
    • Navajo is located in San Luis Obispo County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Navajo
  • Reeds ‑ Historic
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
    • Reeds is located in San Luis Obispo County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Reeds
  • Sycamore Springs
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
    • Sycamore Springs is located in San Luis Obispo County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sycamore Springs
  • Union
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
    • Union is located in San Luis Obispo County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Union

How Far From Poloma to ...

We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers & Almanacs that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a community such as Poloma 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 Poloma once stood, the straight-line distance<2> beginning in Poloma and extending to:

  • San Luis Obispo, which is the Seat of San Luis Obispo County, lies 12 miles [19.3 km]<2> to the south. If you could walk a straight line from Poloma to San Luis Obispo, 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 220 miles [354.1 km] to the north northwest (NNW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take nearly four hours, a buggy would take 9 days and walking would take 13 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 2,387 miles [3,841.5 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take 5 days, a buggy would take 94 days and walking would take 136 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 7,529 miles [12,116.8 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 8,298 miles [13,354.3 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 6,319 miles [10,169.4 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<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 Poloma, 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 drawn from Point A (ie- Poloma) 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 Poloma 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 Poloma. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 35.4600, Longitude: -120.6274       In this case, the coordinates for Poloma have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 338.422 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 338.883 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 327.057 degrees.