RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Illinois >> Iroquois County >> Alonzo >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Alonzo, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Alonzo 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 Alonzo:
    • 40.566703, -87.731139
    • 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 Alonzo
  • 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 Iroquois County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Iroquois County
    • Since Alonzo is near Vermilion County and also Benton County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Vermilion County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Benton 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 Alonzo

Communities Also Named Alonzo ...

We found five communities that are also named Alonzo.

Within Illinois, the name Alonzo is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Georgia
      • Telfair 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 Georgia community of Alonzo [Telfair County].
    • Kentucky
      • Allen County
      • This Alonzo is located in Allen County and lies 277 miles [445.8 km]<2> to the south southeast of the Alonzo that is located in Iroquois County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Allen County community of Alonzo.
    • Louisiana
      • Winn Parish
      • This community is historic<3> and we have very little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Louisiana community of Alonzo [Winn Parish].
    • Mississippi
      • Rankin County
      • This Alonzo is located in Rankin County and lies 604 miles [972 km]<2> to the south southwest of the Alonzo that is located in Iroquois County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Rankin County community of Alonzo.
    • West Virginia
      • Logan 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 West Virginia community of Alonzo [Logan County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Alonzo ...

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.

  • Blue Grass ‑ Historic
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
    • Blue Grass is located in Vermilion County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Blue Grass
  • Clarence
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Clarence is located in Ford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clarence
  • Crescent City
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northwest)
  • Fountain Creek
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Fountain Creek is located in Iroquois County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fountain Creek
  • Free
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
    • Free is located in Benton County (IN)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Free
  • Freeland Park
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)
    • Freeland Park is located in Benton County (IN)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Freeland Park
  • Goodwine
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
  • Handy
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
    • Handy is located in Benton County (IN)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Handy
  • Heaton
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Heaton is located in Vermilion County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Heaton
  • Hustle
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Hustle is located in Vermilion County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hustle
  • Pitchin
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • Pitchin is located in Iroquois County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pitchin
  • Woodland Junction
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
    • Woodland Junction is located in Iroquois County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Woodland Junction

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

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

  • Watseka, which is the Seat of Iroquois County, lies 14 miles [22.5 km]<2> to the north. If you could walk a straight line from Alonzo to Watseka, with an average speed<5> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take most of a day to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take four to five hours.
  • Springfield, which is the State Capital of Illinois, lies 114 miles [183.5 km] to the west southwest (WSW). 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 579 miles [931.8 km] to the east (E). Driving would take just over a day, a buggy would take 23 days and walking would take 33 days.
  • The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,249 miles [10,056.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,985 miles [11,241.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,865 miles [7,829.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>'

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 Bird Creek to see Pete ... Bird 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 Alonzo 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 '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- Alonzo) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 Alonzo, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<4>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<5>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.
<6>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 Alonzo 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 Alonzo. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 40.5667, Longitude: -87.7311       In this case, the coordinates for Alonzo have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 314.50 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 311.219 degrees.
<9>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 308.986 degrees.