Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Franks, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Franks and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Franks
- 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 Franks:
- 41.709838, -88.679350
- 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 Franks
- 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 DeKalb County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for DeKalb County
- Since Franks is near Kendall County and also Kane County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Kendall County
- eBird sighting report for Kane 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:
- Waymark.com
Communities Also Named Franks ...
We found four communities that share the name Franks.
Within Illinois, the name Franks is unique.
Beyond Illinois, we know of another four communities that are located throughout in the United States.
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Kentucky
- Missouri
- Oklahoma
- Texas
Curious and Interesting Names Near Franks ...
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.
- Big Rock
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Big Rock have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Big Rock
- Big Rock is located in Kane County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 1,121 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Big Rock <4>
- Blackberry Woods
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Blackberry Woods have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Blackberry Woods
- Blackberry Woods is located in Kane County
- Catharine
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the south) - Countryside
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Countryside have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Countryside
- Countryside is located in Kendall County
- East Paw Paw
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for East Paw Paw have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for East Paw Paw
- East Paw Paw is located in Lee County
- Fox
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast) - Kaneville
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Kaneville have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kaneville
- Kaneville is located in Kane County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 477 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Kaneville <4>
- Knob Hill
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast) - Little Rock
(5 miles [8 km] to the east)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Little Rock have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Little Rock
- Little Rock is located in Kendall County
- Pavillion
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast) - Sandwich
(5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sandwich
- Sandwich is located in DeKalb County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 7,384 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Sandwich <4>
- Sugar Grove
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sugar Grove
- Sugar Grove is located in Kane County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 9,884 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Sugar Grove <4>
How Far From Franks 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 Franks to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Franks and extending to:
- Sycamore, which is the Seat of DeKalb County, lies 19 miles [30.6 km]<2> to the north. If you could walk a straight line from Franks to Sycamore, with an average speed<5> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take just over a day to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 6 hours.
- Springfield, which is the State Capital of Illinois, lies 142 miles [228.5 km] to the south southwest (SSW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than three hours, a buggy would take 6 days and walking would take 8 days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 642 miles [1,033.2 km] to the east southeast (ESE). Driving would take just over a day, a buggy would take 25 days and walking would take 37 days.
- The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,229 miles [10,024.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,969 miles [11,215.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,854 miles [7,811.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
Off-the-Road Links ...
Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Franks. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.
The official website for DeKalb County: www.dekalbcounty.org/
The official website for State of Illinois: https://illinois.gov
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 Franks 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 obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Franks) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Franks. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 41.7098, Longitude: -88.6793 |
| <3> | 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. |
| <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 Franks to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East. |
| <7> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 315.132 degrees. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 312.102 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 309.134 degrees. |