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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 Homestead Colony, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Homestead Colony 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 Homestead Colony:
- 42.078319, -93.625773
- 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 Homestead Colony
- 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 Story County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- Open the eBird sighting report for Story County
- Since Homestead Colony is near Boone County and also Hamilton County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- Open the eBird sighting report for Boone County
- Open the eBird sighting report for Hamilton 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 Homestead Colony
Curious and Interesting Names Near Homestead Colony ...
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.
- Centerville
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
- Centerville is located in Boone County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Centerville
- Coal Valley
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
- Coal Valley is located in Boone County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Coal Valley
- Garden City
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
- Garden City is located in Hardin County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Garden City
- Gilbert
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
- Iowa Center
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
- Iowa Center is located in Story County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Iowa Center
- Jewell
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the north)
- Jewell is located in Hamilton County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jewell
- Population from the 2020 Census: 1,138 people
- Jewell has also been known as:
- Jewell Junction
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Jewell <1>
- Jordan
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
- Jordan is located in Boone County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jordan
- Luther
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
- Luther is located in Boone County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Luther
- Population from the 2020 Census: 133 people
- Madrid
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the southwest)
- Nevada
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
- Randall
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
- Randall is located in Hamilton County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Randall
- Population from the 2020 Census: 166 people
- Ridgeport
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)
- Ridgeport is located in Boone County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ridgeport
- Story City
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
How Far From Homestead Colony 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 Homestead Colony to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<2> beginning in Homestead Colony and extending to:
- Nevada, which is the Seat of Story County, lies 9 miles [14.5 km]<2> to the east southeast. If you could walk a straight line from Homestead Colony to Nevada, with an average speed<3> 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 33 miles [53.1 km] to the south (S). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than an hour, a buggy would take just over a day and walking would take most of two days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 896 miles [1,442 km] to the east (E). Driving would take most of two days, a buggy would take 35 days and walking would take 51 days.
- The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,384 miles [10,274.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,134 miles [11,481.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,031 miles [8,096.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'
Footnotes ...
| <1> | While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program. |
| <2> | 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- Homestead Colony) 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 Homestead Colony 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 Homestead Colony. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 42.0783, Longitude: -93.6258 In this case, the coordinates for Homestead Colony have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <5> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 318.505 degrees. |
| <6> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 316.014 degrees. |
| <7> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 311.55 degrees. |
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