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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 What Cheer, we use the following websites to find information relevant to What Cheer 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 What Cheer:
- 41.40156, -92.354702
- 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 What Cheer
- 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 Keokuk County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- Open the eBird sighting report for Keokuk County
- Since What Cheer 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 What Cheer
Curious and Interesting Names Near What Cheer ...
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.
- Aurora
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
- Aurora is located in Keokuk County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Aurora
- Coal Creek
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
- Delta
(5 miles [8 km] to the south)
- Indianapolis
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
- Jamestown
(Less than 2 miles to the north)
- Jamestown is located in Keokuk County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jamestown
- Rose Hill
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
- Spring Valley
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
- Spring Valley is located in Mahaska County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spring Valley
- Vulcan ‑ Historic
(Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
- Vulcan is located in Keokuk County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Vulcan
How Far From What Cheer 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 What Cheer to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<1> beginning in What Cheer and extending to:
- Sigourney, which is the Seat of Keokuk County, lies 9 miles [14.5 km]<1> to the east southeast. If you could walk a straight line from What Cheer to Sigourney, with an average speed<2> 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 66 miles [106.2 km] to the west northwest (WNW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than two hours, a buggy would take about three full days and walking would take three full days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 825 miles [1,327.7 km] to the east (E). Driving would take just about two full days, a buggy would take 33 days and walking would take 47 days.
- The shortest distance<3> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,375 miles [10,259.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<4>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,121 miles [11,460.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,013 miles [8,067.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>'
Footnotes ...
| <1> | Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- What Cheer) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'. |
| <2> | 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. |
| <3> | 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 What Cheer 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 What Cheer. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 41.4016, Longitude: -92.3547 |
| <4> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 317.61 degrees. |
| <5> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 314.897 degrees. |
| <6> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 311.057 degrees. |
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