RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Illinois >> Livingston County >> Odell >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Odell, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Odell 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 Odell:
    • 41.003801, -88.523334
    • 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 Odell
  • 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 Odell 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 Odell

Communities Also Named Odell ...

We found sixteen communities that are also named Odell.

Within Illinois, the name Odell is unique.

Beyond Illinois, we know of sixteen communities that are located in the United States and Canada. Of these sixteen communities, fifteen are located in the United States and one is in Canada.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Arkansas
      • Washington County
      • This Odell is located in Washington County and lies 481 miles [774.1 km]<1> to the southwest of the Odell that is located in Livingston County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Washington County community of Odell.
    • Georgia
      • Forsyth County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<2> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Georgia community of Odell [Forsyth County].
    • Indiana
      • Tippecanoe County
      • This Odell is located in Tippecanoe County and lies 90 miles [144.8 km]<1> to the east southeast of the Odell that is located in Livingston County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Tippecanoe County community of Odell.
    • Kansas
      • Sheridan County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<2> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Kansas community of Odell [Sheridan County].
    • Minnesota
      • Cottonwood County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<2> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Minnesota community of Odell [Cottonwood County].
    • Nebraska
      • Gage County
      • This Odell is located in Gage County and lies 439 miles [706.5 km]<1> to the west of the Odell that is located in Livingston County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Gage County community of Odell.
    • New Brunswick
      • This Odell lies 1,119 miles [1,800.9 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Odell that is located in Livingston County.
    • New Hampshire
      • Coos County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<2> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the New Hampshire community of Odell [Coos County].
    • New York
      • Sullivan County
      • This Odell is located in Sullivan County and lies 706 miles [1,136.2 km]<1> to the east of the Odell that is located in Livingston County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Sullivan County community of Odell.
    • North Carolina
      • Warren County
      • This Odell is located in Warren County and lies 653 miles [1,050.9 km]<1> to the east southeast of the Odell that is located in Livingston County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Warren County community of Odell.
    • North Dakota
      • Barnes County
      • This community is historic<3> and we have very little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the North Dakota community of Odell [Barnes County].
    • Ohio
      • Guernsey County
      • This Odell is located in Guernsey County and lies 374 miles [601.9 km]<1> to the east of the Odell that is located in Livingston County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Guernsey County community of Odell.
    • Oregon
      • Hood River County
      • This Odell is located in Hood River County and lies 1,676 miles [2,697.3 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Odell that is located in Livingston County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Hood River County community of Odell.
    • Pennsylvania
      • Washington County
      • This Odell is located in Washington County and lies 445 miles [716.2 km]<1> to the east of the Odell that is located in Livingston County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Washington County community of Odell.
    • Texas
      • Wilbarger County
      • This Odell is located in Wilbarger County and lies 751 miles [1,208.6 km]<1> to the southwest of the Odell that is located in Livingston County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Wilbarger County community of Odell.
    • West Virginia
      • Kanawha County
      • This Odell is located in Kanawha County and lies 420 miles [675.9 km]<1> to the east southeast of the Odell that is located in Livingston County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Kanawha County community of Odell.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Odell ...

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.

  • Blair
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Blair is located in Livingston County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Blair
  • Budd
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
  • Campus
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
  • Dwight
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
  • Katy Did
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Katy Did is located in Livingston County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Katy Did
  • Kinsman
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
  • Manville
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
    • Manville is located in Livingston County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Manville
  • Nevada
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Nevada is located in Livingston County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Nevada
  • New Michigan ‑ Historic
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
    • New Michigan is located in Livingston County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for New Michigan
  • Ransom
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
  • Rooks Creek
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Rooks Creek is located in Livingston County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rooks Creek
  • Rugby
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Rugby is located in Livingston County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rugby

How Far From Odell 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 village such as Odell to various places of note, such as the White House.

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Odell and extending to:

  • Pontiac, which is the Seat of Livingston County, lies 10 miles [16.1 km]<1> to the southwest. If you could walk a straight line from Odell to Pontiac, with an average speed<5> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take four to five hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take a little over three hours.
  • Springfield, which is the State Capital of Illinois, lies 103 miles [165.8 km] to the southwest (SW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than two hours, a buggy would take 4 days and walking would take 6 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 624 miles [1,004.2 km] to the east (E). Driving would take just over a day, a buggy would take 25 days and walking would take 36 days.
  • The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,257 miles [10,069.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,995 miles [11,257.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,878 miles [7,850.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>'

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 obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Odell) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<2>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 Mile's to see Pete ... Mile's 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 Odell 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.
<3>We use the term 'Historic' broadly and it generally means that the community no longer exists. However, it can also mean that the community might still exist, but was significantly larger or had a more 'official' existence in the past than it does now. Unfortunately our sources of data have proven to be unreliable. If you can provide us with more specific information about Odell, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<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 Odell 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 Odell. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 41.0038, Longitude: -88.5233    
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 315.025 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 311.881 degrees.
<9>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 309.251 degrees.