RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Illinois >> Morgan County >> Joy Prairie >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Joy Prairie, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Joy Prairie and the surrounding area.

  • Weather ...
  • 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 Joy Prairie:
    • 39.786714, -90.298178
    • 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 Joy Prairie
  • 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 Morgan County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Morgan County
    • Since Joy Prairie is near Cass County and also Scott County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Cass County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Scott 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 Joy Prairie

Curious and Interesting Names Near Joy Prairie ...

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.

  • Arnold
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Arnold is located in Morgan County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Arnold
  • Jordanville ‑ Historic
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Jordanville is located in Morgan County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jordanville
  • Jules
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
    • Jules is located in Cass County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jules
  • Little Indian
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Little Indian is located in Cass County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Little Indian
  • Lynnville
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
    • Lynnville is located in Morgan County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lynnville
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 113 people
  • Orleans
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
    • Orleans is located in Morgan County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Orleans
  • Portuguese Hill
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Portuguese Hill is located in Morgan County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Portuguese Hill
  • Savage ‑ Historic
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Savage is located in Morgan County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Savage
  • Virginia
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)

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

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<2> beginning in Joy Prairie and extending to:

  • Jacksonville, which is the Seat of Morgan County, lies just to the Southeast.
  • Springfield, which is the State Capital of Illinois, lies 34 miles [54.7 km]<2> to the east (E). If you could walk a straight line from Joy Prairie to Springfield, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take most of two days to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take just about two full days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 710 miles [1,142.6 km] to the east (E). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take just about two full days, a buggy would take 28 days and walking would take 41 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> 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).<5>
  • 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).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,004 miles [8,053.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<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 drawn from Point A (ie- Joy Prairie) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<3>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.
<4>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 Joy Prairie 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 Joy Prairie. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 39.7867, Longitude: -90.2982       In this case, the coordinates for Joy Prairie have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 316.178 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 313.034 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 310.424 degrees.