RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Iowa >> Fayette County >> Brainard >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

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

  • Weather ...
  • 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 Brainard:
    • 42.930874, -91.705318
    • 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 Brainard
  • 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 Fayette County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Fayette County
    • Since Brainard is near Clayton County and also Winneshiek County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Clayton County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Winneshiek 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 Brainard

Communities Also Named Brainard ...

We found five communities that are also named Brainard.

Within Iowa, the name Brainard is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Alberta
      • This Brainard lies 1,514 miles [2,436.5 km]<1> to the northwest of the Brainard that is located in Fayette County.
    • California
      • Humboldt County
      • This Brainard is located in Humboldt County and lies 1,662 miles [2,674.7 km]<1> to the west of the Brainard that is located in Fayette County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Humboldt County community of Brainard.
    • Kentucky
      • Floyd County
      • This Brainard is located in Floyd County and lies 588 miles [946.3 km]<1> to the southeast of the Brainard that is located in Fayette County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Floyd County community of Brainard.
    • Nebraska
      • Butler County
      • This Brainard is located in Butler County and lies 297 miles [478 km]<1> to the west southwest of the Brainard that is located in Fayette County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Butler County community of Brainard.
    • New York
      • Rensselaer County
      • This Brainard is located in Rensselaer County and lies 921 miles [1,482.2 km]<1> to the east of the Brainard that is located in Fayette County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Rensselaer County community of Brainard.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Brainard ...

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.

How Far From Brainard 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 Brainard to various places of note, such as the White House.

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

  • West Union, which is the Seat of Fayette County, lies just to the West Northwest.
  • Des Moines, which is the State Capital of Iowa, lies 134 miles [215.7 km]<1> to the southwest (SW). If you could drive a straight line from Brainard to Des Moines, with an average speed<3>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take less than three hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 8 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 6 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 813 miles [1,308.4 km] to the east southeast (ESE). Driving would take just about two full days, a buggy would take 32 days and walking would take 47 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,275 miles [10,098.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,023 miles [11,302.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,919 miles [7,916.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a '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- Brainard) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<2>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<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 Brainard 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 Brainard. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 42.9309, Longitude: -91.7053    
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 317.193 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 314.626 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 310.345 degrees.