RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
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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 Rider, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Rider 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 Rider:
    • 41.644155, -93.769668
    • 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 Rider
  • 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 Rider ...

We found five communities that share the name Rider.

Within Iowa, the name Rider is unique.

Beyond Iowa, we know of another five communities that are located throughout in the United States and Canada. Of these five communities, four are located in the United States and one is in Canada.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • British Columbia
      • This Rider lies 1,477 miles [2,377 km]<1> to the northwest of the Rider that is located in Polk County.
    • Maryland
      • Baltimore County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<2> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Maryland community of Rider [Baltimore County].
    • Nevada
      • Nye County
      • This community is historic<3> and although located in Nye County, we don't know where within the county.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Nye County community of Rider.
    • North Dakota
      • Golden Valley County
      • This Rider is located in Golden Valley County and lies 607 miles [976.9 km]<1> to the northwest of the Rider that is located in Polk County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Golden Valley County community of Rider.
    • West Virginia
      • Harrison County
      • This Rider is located in Harrison County and lies 724 miles [1,165.2 km]<1> to the east of the Rider that is located in Polk County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Harrison County community of Rider.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Rider ...

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.

  • Carbondale
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Carbondale have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Carbondale
    • Carbondale is located in Polk County
  • Commerce
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Commerce have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Commerce
    • Commerce is located in Polk County
  • DeSoto
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
  • Elkhart
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
  • Enterprise
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Enterprise have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Enterprise
    • Enterprise is located in Polk County
  • High Bridge
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for High Bridge. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<6>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for High Bridge
    • High Bridge is located in Dallas County
  • Madrid
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
  • Pleasant Hill
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Pleasant Hill have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pleasant Hill
    • Pleasant Hill is located in Polk County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 10,025 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Pleasant Hill <5>
  • Rising Sun
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Rising Sun have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rising Sun
    • Rising Sun is located in Polk County
  • Scotch Ridge
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Scotch Ridge have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Scotch Ridge
    • Scotch Ridge is located in Warren County
  • Valley Junction
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Valley Junction have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Valley Junction
    • Valley Junction is located in Polk County

How Far From Rider 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 Rider to various places of note, such as the White House.

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

  • Des Moines, which is the Seat of Polk County, lies just to the East Southeast.
  • Des Moines, which is the State Capital of Iowa, lies just to the east southeast (ESE).
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 900 miles [1,448.4 km]<1> to the east (E). If you could drive a straight line from Rider to White House, with an average speed<7>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take most of two days to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 52 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 36 days.
  • The shortest distance<8> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,411 miles [10,317.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,161 miles [11,524.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<10>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,057 miles [8,138.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<11>

Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Rider. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.

The official website for Polk County: www.co.polk.ia.us/

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 things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Rider) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Rider. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 41.6442, Longitude: -93.7697       In this case, the coordinates for Rider 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 Rider 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>We use the term 'Historic' broadly and it generally means that the community no longer exists. However, it can also mean that the community might still exist, but was significantly larger or had a more 'official' existence in the past than it does now. Unfortunately our sources of data have proven to be unreliable. If you can provide us with more specific information about Rider, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<4>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.
<5>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<6>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.
<7>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.
<8>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 Rider to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East.
<9>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 318.591 degrees.
<10>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 316.056 degrees.
<11>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 311.724 degrees.




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 07 Apr 2024