RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Iowa >> Jackson County >> La Motte >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in La Motte, we use the following websites to find information relevant to La Motte 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 La Motte:
    • 42.295662, -90.623368
    • 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 La Motte
  • 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 Jackson County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Jackson County
    • Since La Motte is near Dubuque County and also Jo Daviess County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Dubuque County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Jo Daviess 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 La Motte

Communities Also Named La Motte ...

We found one communities that are also named La Motte.

Within Iowa, the name La Motte is unique.

Beyond Iowa, there is another community also named La Motte in Canada.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Quebec
      • This La Motte lies 735 miles [1,182.9 km]<1> to the northeast of the La Motte that is located in Jackson County.

Curious and Interesting Names Near La Motte ...

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.

  • Cottonville
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Cottonville is located in Jackson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cottonville
  • Crab Town
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Crab Town is located in Jackson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crab Town
  • Galena
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Galena is located in Jo Daviess County (IL)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Galena
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 3,151 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Galena <2>
  • Galena Junction
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Galena Junction is located in Jo Daviess County (IL)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Galena Junction
  • Garry Owen
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
    • Garry Owen is located in Jackson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Garry Owen
  • Gears Ferry
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Gears Ferry is located in Jo Daviess County (IL)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gears Ferry
  • Ironhills
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Ironhills is located in Jackson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ironhills
  • King
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • King is located in Dubuque County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for King
  • Otter Creek
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Otter Creek is located in Jackson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Otter Creek
  • Portage
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Portage is located in Jo Daviess County (IL)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Portage
  • Rice
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
    • Rice is located in Jo Daviess County (IL)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rice
  • Rockdale
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
    • Rockdale is located in Dubuque County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rockdale
  • Springbrook
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)

How Far From La Motte 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 city such as La Motte to various places of note, such as the White House.

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

  • Maquoketa, which is the Seat of Jackson County, lies 15 miles [24.1 km]<1> to the south. If you could walk a straight line from La Motte to Maquoketa, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take most of a day to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take four to five hours.
  • Des Moines, which is the State Capital of Iowa, lies 161 miles [259.1 km] to the west southwest (WSW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than three hours, a buggy would take 7 days and walking would take 10 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 749 miles [1,205.4 km] to the east southeast (ESE). Driving would take just about two full days, a buggy would take 30 days and walking would take 43 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,269 miles [10,089 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,014 miles [11,287.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,905 miles [7,893.8 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- La Motte) 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 La Motte 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 La Motte. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 42.2957, Longitude: -90.6234       In this case, the coordinates for La Motte have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 316.446 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 313.685 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 309.953 degrees.