Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Cool, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Cool and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Cool
- 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 Cool:
- 41.223586, -93.577524
- 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.
- The Heavens-Above Website, centered on Cool
- 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 Warren County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Warren County
- Since Cool is near Clarke County and also Polk County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Clarke County
- eBird sighting report for Polk 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:
- Waymark.com
Communities Also Named Cool ...
We found four communities that share the name Cool.
Within Iowa, the name Cool is unique.
Beyond Iowa, we know of another four communities that are located throughout in the United States.
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- California
- Kansas
- Pennsylvania
- Texas
Curious and Interesting Names Near Cool ...
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.
- Beech
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast) - Churchville
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Churchville
- Churchville is located in Warren County
- Greenbush
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast) - Jay
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the south) - Liberty
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Liberty
- Liberty is located in Clarke County
- Liberty Center
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Liberty Center
- Liberty Center is located in Warren County
- Lucas
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast) - Sandyville
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sandyville
- Sandyville is located in Warren County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 54 people
- Summerset
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the north) - Summerset Junction ‑ Historic
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the north)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Summerset Junction have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Summerset Junction
- Summerset Junction is located in Warren County
- Wick
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
How Far From Cool 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 community such as Cool to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Cool and extending to:
- Indianola, which is the Seat of Warren County, lies 9 miles [14.5 km]<2> to the north. If you could walk a straight line from Cool to Indianola, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take four to five hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take a little over three hours.
- Des Moines, which is the State Capital of Iowa, lies 25 miles [40.2 km] to the north (N). The buggy would take most of a day and walking would take just about two full days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 887 miles [1,427.5 km] to the east (E). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take most of two days, a buggy would take 35 days and walking would take 51 days.
- The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,427 miles [10,343.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,175 miles [11,547 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,068 miles [8,156.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
Off-the-Road Links ...
Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Cool. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.
The official website for Warren County: www.co.warren.ia.us/
The official website for State of Iowa: https://www.iowa.gov/
Footnotes ...
| <1> | 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 Bird Creek to see Pete ... Bird 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 Cool 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. |
| <2> | Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Cool) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Cool. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 41.2236, Longitude: -93.5775 In this case, the coordinates for Cool have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <3> | The location has been supplied by the Geographic Names Information System - which is maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). While these values should be definitive, we found that accuracy can vary and you should double-check the location if accuracy is required. |
| <4> | 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. |
| <5> | 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 Cool to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East. |
| <6> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 318.444 degrees. |
| <7> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 315.831 degrees. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 311.719 degrees. |