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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 Missal, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Missal 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 Missal:
- 41.098998, -88.742078
- 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 Missal
- 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 Livingston County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- Open the eBird sighting report for Livingston County
- Since Missal is near La Salle County and also Grundy County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- Open the eBird sighting report for La Salle County
- Open the eBird sighting report for Grundy 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 Missal
Curious and Interesting Names Near Missal ...
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.
- Budd
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
- Coalville
(5 miles [8 km] to the west)
- Katy Did
(5 miles [8 km] to the east)
- Katy Did is located in Livingston County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Katy Did
- Manville
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
- Manville is located in Livingston County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Manville
- New Michigan ‑ Historic
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
- New Michigan is located in Livingston County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for New Michigan
- Otter ‑ Historic
(5 miles [8 km] to the north)
- Otter is located in La Salle County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Otter
- Ransom
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
- Reading
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
- Reading is located in Livingston County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Reading
- Richards
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
- Richards is located in La Salle County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Richards
How Far From Missal 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 Missal to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<2> beginning in Missal and extending to:
- Pontiac, which is the Seat of Livingston County, lies 15 miles [24.1 km]<2> to the south southeast. If you could walk a straight line from Missal to Pontiac, with an average speed<3> 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 102 miles [164.2 km] to the south southwest (SSW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than two hours, a buggy would take three full days and walking would take 6 days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 637 miles [1,025.2 km] to the east (E). Driving would take just over a day, a buggy would take 25 days and walking would take 37 days.
- The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,261 miles [10,076.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,000 miles [11,265.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,883 miles [7,858.4 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 from Point A (ie- Missal) 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 Missal 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 Missal. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 41.0990, Longitude: -88.7421 In this case, the coordinates for Missal have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <5> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 315.171 degrees. |
| <6> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 312.061 degrees. |
| <7> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 309.332 degrees. |
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