RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Illinois >> Jo Daviess County >> Rice >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Rice, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Rice 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 Rice:
    • 42.339178, -90.394573
    • 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 Rice
  • 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 Jo Daviess County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Jo Daviess County
    • Since Rice is near Jackson County and also Dubuque County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Jackson County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Dubuque 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 Rice

Communities Also Named Rice ...

We found seventeen communities that are also named Rice.

There is one other community in Illinois that is also named Rice.

Beyond Illinois, we know of sixteen communities that are located in the United States.

  • Communities Located In Illinois ...
    • Perry County
      • This Rice is located in Perry County and lies 290 miles [466.7 km]<1> to the south of the Rice that is located in Jo Daviess County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Perry County community of Rice.
  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Alabama
      • Jefferson County
      • This Rice is located in Jefferson County and lies 646 miles [1,039.6 km]<1> to the south southeast of the Rice that is located in Jo Daviess County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Jefferson County community of Rice.
      • Marshall County
      • This Rice is located in Marshall County and lies 591 miles [951.1 km] to the south southeast of the Rice that is located in Jo Daviess County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Marshall County community of Rice.
    • Arizona
      • Gila County
      • This community is historic<2> and although located in Gila County, we don't know where within the county.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Gila County community of Rice.
    • California
      • San Bernardino County
      • This community is historic<2> and we have very little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the California community of Rice [San Bernardino County].
    • Kansas
      • Cloud County
      • This Rice is located in Cloud County and lies 419 miles [674.3 km]<1> to the west southwest of the Rice that is located in Jo Daviess County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Cloud County community of Rice.
    • Kentucky
      • Estill County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<3> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Kentucky community of Rice [Estill County].
    • Maryland
      • Frederick County
      • This Rice is located in Frederick County and lies 697 miles [1,121.7 km]<1> to the east southeast of the Rice that is located in Jo Daviess County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Frederick County community of Rice.
    • Minnesota
      • Benton County
      • This Rice is located in Benton County and lies 303 miles [487.6 km]<1> to the northwest of the Rice that is located in Jo Daviess County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Benton County community of Rice.
    • Ohio
      • Putnam County
      • This Rice is located in Putnam County and lies 324 miles [521.4 km]<1> to the east southeast of the Rice that is located in Jo Daviess County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Putnam County community of Rice.
    • Oregon
      • Wasco County
      • This Rice is located in Wasco County and lies 1,530 miles [2,462.3 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Rice that is located in Jo Daviess County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Wasco County community of Rice.
    • South Carolina
      • Spartanburg County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<3> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the South Carolina community of Rice [Spartanburg County].
    • Texas
      • Navarro County
      • This Rice is located in Navarro County and lies 772 miles [1,242.4 km]<1> to the south southwest of the Rice that is located in Jo Daviess County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Navarro County community of Rice.
      • Smith County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<3> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Texas community of Rice [Smith County].
    • Virginia
      • Prince Edward County
      • This Rice is located in Prince Edward County and lies 730 miles [1,174.8 km]<1> to the east southeast of the Rice that is located in Jo Daviess County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Prince Edward County community of Rice.
    • Washington
      • Stevens County
      • This Rice is located in Stevens County and lies 1,402 miles [2,256.3 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Rice that is located in Jo Daviess County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Stevens County community of Rice.
    • West Virginia
      • Wayne County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<3> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the West Virginia community of Rice [Wayne County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Rice ...

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.

  • Council Hill
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
    • Council Hill is located in Jo Daviess County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Council Hill
  • Elizabeth
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
  • Galena
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Galena is located in Jo Daviess County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Galena
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 3,151 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Galena <4>
  • Galena Junction
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Galena Junction is located in Jo Daviess County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Galena Junction
  • Gears Ferry
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Gears Ferry is located in Jo Daviess County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gears Ferry
  • King
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
    • King is located in Dubuque County (IA)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for King
  • Pleasant Creek
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
    • Pleasant Creek is located in Jackson County (IA)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pleasant Creek
  • Pleasant Hill ‑ Historic
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Pleasant Hill is located in Jo Daviess County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pleasant Hill
  • Portage
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Portage is located in Jo Daviess County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Portage

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

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

  • Galena, which is the Seat of Jo Daviess County, lies just to the North Northwest.
  • Springfield, which is the State Capital of Illinois, lies 180 miles [289.7 km]<1> to the south southeast (SSE). If you could drive a straight line from Rice to Springfield, with an average speed<5>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take a little over three hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 11 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 7 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 738 miles [1,187.7 km] to the east southeast (ESE). Driving would take just about two full days, a buggy would take 29 days and walking would take 42 days.
  • The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,259 miles [10,072.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,004 miles [11,271.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,894 miles [7,876.1 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- Rice) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<2>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 Rice, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<3>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 Bird Creek to see Pete ... Bird Creek 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 Rice 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.
<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 Rice 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 Rice. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 42.3392, Longitude: -90.3946       In this case, the coordinates for Rice have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 316.291 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 313.513 degrees.
<9>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 309.825 degrees.