Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Pettis, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Pettis and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Pettis
- 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 Pettis:
- 42.368593, -94.935821
- 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 Pettis
- 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 Sac County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Sac County
- Since Pettis is near Calhoun County and also Carroll County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Calhoun County
- eBird sighting report for Carroll 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 Pettis ...
We found two communities that share the name Pettis.
Within Iowa, the name Pettis is unique.
Beyond Iowa, we know of another two communities that are located throughout in the United States.
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Pennsylvania
- Virginia
Curious and Interesting Names Near Pettis ...
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.
- Early
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Early
- Early is located in Sac County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 507 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Early <2>
- Hart
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the south) - Herring ‑ Historic
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest) - Jolley
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast) - Lake City
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Lake City have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lake City
- Lake City is located in Calhoun County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 1,604 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Lake City <2>
- Lake View
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lake View
- Lake View is located in Sac County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 1,076 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Lake View <2>
- Sac City
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sac City
- Sac City is located in Sac County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 2,036 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Sac City <2>
- Sac City Junction ‑ Historic
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Sac City Junction have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sac City Junction
- Sac City Junction is located in Sac County
How Far From Pettis 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 Pettis to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<5> beginning in Pettis and extending to:
- Sac City, which is the Seat of Sac County, lies just to the Northwest.
- Des Moines, which is the State Capital of Iowa, lies 86 miles [138.4 km]<5> to the southeast (SE). If you could drive a straight line from Pettis to Des Moines, with an average speed<6>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take less than two hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 5 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take most of three days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 966 miles [1,554.6 km] to the east (E). Driving would take most of two days, a buggy would take 38 days and walking would take 55 days.
- The shortest distance<7> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,413 miles [10,320.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,165 miles [11,530.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,068 miles [8,156.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<10>
Off-the-Road Links ...
Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Pettis. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.
The official website for Sac County: www.saccounty.org/
The official website for State of Iowa: https://www.iowa.gov/
Footnotes ...
| <1> | 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 Mile's to see Pete ... Mile's 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 Pettis 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. |
| <2> | While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program. |
| <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> | 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. |
| <5> | 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- Pettis) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Pettis. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 42.3686, Longitude: -94.9358 In this case, the coordinates for Pettis have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <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 Pettis 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 319.429 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 317.112 degrees. |
| <10> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 312.169 degrees. |