RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Illinois >> Will County >> McKenna Woods >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in McKenna Woods, we use the following websites to find information relevant to McKenna Woods 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 McKenna Woods:
    • 41.567778, -88.212500
    • 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 McKenna Woods
  • 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 Will County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Will County
    • Since McKenna Woods is near Grundy County and also Kendall County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Grundy County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Kendall 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 McKenna Woods

Curious and Interesting Names Near McKenna Woods ...

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.

  • Crystal Lawns
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Crystal Lawns is located in Will County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crystal Lawns
  • Erin
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Erin is located in Will County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Erin
  • Fox Meadow
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Fox Meadow is located in Will County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fox Meadow
  • Grand Prairie
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Grand Prairie is located in Will County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grand Prairie
  • Hunt Club
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Hunt Club is located in Will County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hunt Club
  • Liberty Grove
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Liberty Grove is located in Will County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Liberty Grove
  • Pheasant Landing
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
    • Pheasant Landing is located in Will County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pheasant Landing
  • Pleasant Knoll
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Pleasant Knoll is located in Will County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pleasant Knoll
  • Prairie Trail
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
    • Prairie Trail is located in Will County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Prairie Trail
  • Riverwalk
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
    • Riverwalk is located in Will County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Riverwalk
  • Spangler Farms
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
    • Spangler Farms is located in Will County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spangler Farms
  • Squires Mill
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Squires Mill is located in Will County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Squires Mill
  • Continue List   (4 more) ...
    • Sunset Hills
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
      • Sunset Hills is located in Will County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sunset Hills
    • Sunset Ridge
      (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
      • Sunset Ridge is located in Will County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sunset Ridge
    • Vintage Harvest
      (Less than 2 miles to the north)
      • Vintage Harvest is located in Will County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Vintage Harvest
    • Winding Creek
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
      • Winding Creek is located in Will County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Winding Creek

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

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<1> beginning in McKenna Woods and extending to:

  • Joliet, which is the Seat of Will County, lies just to the East Southeast.
  • Springfield, which is the State Capital of Illinois, lies 144 miles [231.7 km]<1> to the south southwest (SSW). If you could drive a straight line from McKenna Woods to Springfield, with an average speed<2>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take less than three hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 9 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 6 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 616 miles [991.4 km] to the east southeast (ESE). Driving would take just over a day, a buggy would take 24 days and walking would take 35 days.
  • The shortest distance<3> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,218 miles [10,006.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<4>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,958 miles [11,197.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,841 miles [7,790.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or 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- McKenna Woods) 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 McKenna Woods 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 McKenna Woods. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 41.5678, Longitude: -88.2125       In this case, the coordinates for McKenna Woods have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<4>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 314.821 degrees.
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 311.727 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 308.942 degrees.