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Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Douds, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Douds 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 Douds:
- 40.840746, -92.085711
- 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 Douds
- 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 Van Buren County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- Open the eBird sighting report for Van Buren County
- Since Douds is near Davis County and also Jefferson County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- Open the eBird sighting report for Davis County
- Open the eBird sighting report for Jefferson 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 Douds
Curious and Interesting Names Near Douds ...
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.
- Business Corners ‑ Historic
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
- Business Corners is located in Van Buren County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Business Corners
- Cliffland
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the northwest)
- Dover ‑ Historic
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
- Dover is located in Davis County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dover
- Dunnville ‑ Historic
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
- Dunnville is located in Davis County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dunnville
- Harrisburg
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)
- Harrisburg is located in Van Buren County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harrisburg
- Libertyville
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
- Parksville ‑ Historic
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
- Parksville is located in Van Buren County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Parksville
- Pierceville
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)
- Pierceville is located in Van Buren County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pierceville
- Pleasant Hill ‑ Historic
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
- Pleasant Hill is located in Van Buren County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pleasant Hill
- Pleasant View ‑ Historic
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
- Pleasant View is located in Davis County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pleasant View
- White Elm
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
- White Elm is located in Davis County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for White Elm
How Far From Douds 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 Douds to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<1> beginning in Douds and extending to:
- Keosauqua, which is the Seat of Van Buren County, lies 9 miles [14.5 km]<1> to the southeast. If you could walk a straight line from Douds to Keosauqua, with an average speed<2> 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 95 miles [152.9 km] to the northwest (NW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than two hours, a buggy would take three full days and walking would take 6 days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 807 miles [1,298.7 km] to the east (E). Driving would take just about two full days, a buggy would take 32 days and walking would take 46 days.
- The shortest distance<3> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,394 miles [10,290.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<4>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,139 miles [11,489.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,028 miles [8,091.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>'
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- Douds) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'. |
| <2> | 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. |
| <3> | 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 Douds 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 Douds. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 40.8407, Longitude: -92.0857 |
| <4> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 317.411 degrees. |
| <5> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 314.592 degrees. |
| <6> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 311.053 degrees. |
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