RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Iowa >> Palo Alto County >> Rodman >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Rodman, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Rodman 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 Rodman:
    • 43.027406, -94.527827
    • 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 Rodman
  • 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 Palo Alto County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Palo Alto County
    • Since Rodman is near Kossuth County and also Humboldt County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Kossuth County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Humboldt 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 Rodman

Communities Also Named Rodman ...

We found five communities that are also named Rodman.

Within Iowa, the name Rodman is unique.

Beyond Iowa, we know of five communities that are located in the United States.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Alaska
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<1> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Alaska community of Rodman.
    • Florida
      • Putnam County
      • This Rodman is located in Putnam County and lies 1,168 miles [1,879.7 km]<2> to the southeast of the Rodman that is located in Palo Alto County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Putnam County community of Rodman.
    • New York
      • Jefferson County
      • This Rodman is located in Jefferson County and lies 931 miles [1,498.3 km]<2> to the east of the Rodman that is located in Palo Alto County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Jefferson County community of Rodman.
    • Pennsylvania
      • Blair County
      • This Rodman is located in Blair County and lies 850 miles [1,367.9 km]<2> to the east of the Rodman that is located in Palo Alto County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Blair County community of Rodman.
    • South Carolina
      • Chester County
      • This Rodman is located in Chester County and lies 918 miles [1,477.4 km]<2> to the southeast of the Rodman that is located in Palo Alto County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Chester County community of Rodman.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Rodman ...

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.

  • Cylinder
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Cylinder is located in Palo Alto County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cylinder
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 84 people
  • Emmetsburg
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
  • Fairville
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
    • Fairville is located in Palo Alto County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fairville
  • Havelock
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southwest)
  • Lone Rock
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
  • Mallard
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
  • Plover
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
  • Rubens Siding
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
    • Rubens Siding is located in Pocahontas County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rubens Siding

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

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

  • Emmetsburg, which is the Seat of Palo Alto County, lies 9 miles [14.5 km]<2> to the northwest. If you could walk a straight line from Rodman to Emmetsburg, with an average speed<4> 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 109 miles [175.4 km] to the south southeast (SSE). 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 7 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 953 miles [1,533.7 km] to the east southeast (ESE). Driving would take most of two days, a buggy would take 38 days and walking would take 55 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,365 miles [10,243.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,118 miles [11,455.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,022 miles [8,082.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

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 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 Rodman 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>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- Rodman) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<3>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<4>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.
<5>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 Rodman 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 Rodman. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 43.0274, Longitude: -94.5278    
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 319.161 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 316.89 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 311.804 degrees.