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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 McGirr, we use the following websites to find information relevant to McGirr 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 McGirr:
- 41.817529, -88.802308
- 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 McGirr
- 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:
- Open the eBird sighting report for DeKalb County
- Since McGirr is near Lee County and also Kane County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- Open the eBird sighting report for Lee County
- Open the 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:
- Open the Waymark.com report for McGirr
Curious and Interesting Names Near McGirr ...
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
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)
- Clare
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
- East Paw Paw
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
- East Paw Paw is located in Lee County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for East Paw Paw
- Five Points
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
- Five Points is located in DeKalb County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Five Points
- Franks
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
- Franks is located in DeKalb County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Franks
- Kaneville
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
- Lee
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
- Little Rock
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
- Little Rock is located in Kendall County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Little Rock
- Malta
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
- Maple Park
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
- Paw Paw
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
How Far From McGirr to ...
We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers, Almanacs & Directories that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a community such as McGirr to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<2> beginning in McGirr and extending to:
- Sycamore, which is the Seat of DeKalb County, lies 13 miles [20.9 km]<2> to the north northeast. If you could walk a straight line from McGirr to Sycamore, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take 6 hours 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 147 miles [236.6 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 9 days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 650 miles [1,046.1 km] to the east southeast (ESE). Driving would take just over a day, a buggy would take 26 days and walking would take 37 days.
- The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,228 miles [10,023 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
- 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).<6>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,854 miles [7,811.8 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 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- McGirr) 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 McGirr 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 McGirr. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 41.8175, Longitude: -88.8023 In this case, the coordinates for McGirr have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <5> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 315.215 degrees. |
| <6> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 312.212 degrees. |
| <7> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 309.165 degrees. |
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