Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Panama, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Panama and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Panama
- 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 Panama:
- 41.726351, -95.475476
- 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 Panama
- 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 Shelby County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Shelby County
- Since Panama is near Harrison County and also Crawford County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Harrison County
- eBird sighting report for Crawford 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 Panama ...
We found eleven communities that share the name Panama.
Within Iowa, the name Panama is unique.
Beyond Iowa, we know of another eleven communities that are located throughout in the United States.
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- California
- Florida
- Illinois
- Indiana
- Kansas
- Kentucky
- Missouri
- Nebraska
- Nevada
- New York
- Oklahoma
Curious and Interesting Names Near Panama ...
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.
- Bell
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the north) - Crisp
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest) - Defiance
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast) - Hard Scratch
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Hard Scratch have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hard Scratch
- Hard Scratch is located in Harrison County
- Irwin
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Irwin have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Irwin
- Irwin is located in Shelby County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 308 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Irwin <4>
- Red Line
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the east) - Union Burg ‑ Historic
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Union Burg have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Union Burg
- Union Burg is located in Harrison County
- Yorkshire
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
How Far From Panama 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 city such as Panama to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Panama and extending to:
- Harlan, which is the Seat of Shelby County, lies 9 miles [14.5 km]<1> to the southeast. If you could walk a straight line from Panama to Harlan, with an average speed<6> 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 96 miles [154.5 km] to the east (E). 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 988 miles [1,590 km] to the east (E). Driving would take most of two days, a buggy would take 39 days and walking would take 57 days.
- The shortest distance<7> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,465 miles [10,404.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,217 miles [11,614.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,118 miles [8,236.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<10>
Off-the-Road Links ...
Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Panama. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.
The official website for Shelby County: www.shco.org/
The official website for State of Iowa: https://www.iowa.gov/
Footnotes ...
| <1> | 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- Panama) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Panama. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 41.7264, Longitude: -95.4755 In this case, the coordinates for Panama have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <2> | 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 Rock Creek to see Pete ... Rock 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 Panama 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. |
| <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're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program. |
| <5> | An 'estimated' location is one where we have been given GPS coordinates, but are unable to verify the accuracy of those coordinates. That said, we have some confidence that we have placed the marker near the actual location. A typical reason for being unable to verify a location is that it might be on private property or maybe historic and gone without an obvious trace. |
| <6> | 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. |
| <7> | 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 Panama to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 319.784 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 317.438 degrees. |
| <10> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 312.59 degrees. |