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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in McPaul, we use the following websites to find information relevant to McPaul 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 McPaul:
    • 40.822088, -95.803772
    • 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 McPaul
  • 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 Fremont County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Fremont County
    • Since McPaul is near Cass County and also Mills County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Cass County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Mills 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 McPaul

Curious and Interesting Names Near McPaul ...

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 McPaul 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 McPaul to various places of note, such as the White House.

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<2> beginning in McPaul and extending to:

  • Sidney, which is the Seat of Fremont County, lies 9 miles [14.5 km]<2> to the east southeast. If you could walk a straight line from McPaul to Sidney, 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 125 miles [201.2 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take about two hours, a buggy would take 5 days and walking would take 8 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 1,001 miles [1,611 km] to the east (E). Driving would take most of two days, a buggy would take 40 days and walking would take 57 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,523 miles [10,497.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,274 miles [11,706.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,173 miles [8,325.1 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' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- McPaul) 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 McPaul 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 McPaul. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 40.8221, Longitude: -95.8038    
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 319.972 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 317.54 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 312.944 degrees.