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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Sully, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Sully 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 Sully:
    • 41.578322, -92.846113
    • 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 Sully
  • 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 Jasper County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Jasper County
    • Since Sully is near Mahaska County and also Poweshiek County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Mahaska County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Poweshiek 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 Sully

Communities Also Named Sully ...

We found three communities that are also named Sully.

Within Iowa, the name Sully is unique.

Beyond Iowa, we know of three communities that are located in the United States and Canada. Of these three communities, .

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Idaho
      • Twin Falls County
      • 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 Idaho community of Sully [Twin Falls County].
    • Quebec
      • This Sully lies 1,229 miles [1,977.9 km]<2> to the east northeast of the Sully that is located in Jasper County.
    • West Virginia
      • Randolph County
      • This Sully is located in Randolph County and lies 721 miles [1,160.3 km]<2> to the east of the Sully that is located in Jasper County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Randolph County community of Sully.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Sully ...

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

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

  • Newton, which is the Seat of Jasper County, lies 12 miles [19.3 km]<2> to the northwest. If you could walk a straight line from Sully to Newton, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take five to six hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take nearly four hours.
  • Des Moines, which is the State Capital of Iowa, lies 39 miles [62.8 km] to the west (W). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than an hour, a buggy would take just about two full days and walking would take over two days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 852 miles [1,371.2 km] to the east (E). Driving would take just about two full days, a buggy would take 34 days and walking would take 49 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,383 miles [10,272.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,131 miles [11,476.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,024 miles [8,085.3 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 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 Sully 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' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Sully) 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 Sully 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 Sully. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 41.5783, Longitude: -92.8461    
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 317.952 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 315.313 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 311.265 degrees.