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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in River Woods Estates, we use the following websites to find information relevant to River Woods Estates 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 River Woods Estates:
    • 41.712778, -88.071944
    • 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 River Woods Estates
  • 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 River Woods Estates is near DuPage County and also Cook County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for DuPage County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Cook 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 River Woods Estates

Curious and Interesting Names Near River Woods Estates ...

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.

  • Cherrywood
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Cherrywood is located in Will County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cherrywood
  • Colonial Village
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
    • Colonial Village is located in Will County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Colonial Village
  • Heather Sound
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • Heather Sound is located in Will County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Heather Sound
  • Heritage Creek
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
    • Heritage Creek is located in Will County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Heritage Creek
  • Home Run
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Home Run is located in Will County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Home Run
  • Hunters Trail
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Hunters Trail is located in Will County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hunters Trail
  • Indian Oaks
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Indian Oaks is located in Will County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Indian Oaks
  • Ivanhoe
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
    • Ivanhoe is located in Will County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ivanhoe
  • Kings Park
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
    • Kings Park is located in Will County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kings Park
  • Quail Grove
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Quail Grove is located in Will County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Quail Grove
  • River Woods
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
    • River Woods is located in Will County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for River Woods
  • Stonegate
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Stonegate is located in Will County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stonegate
  • Continue List   (5 more) ...
    • Sugar Brook
      (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
      • Sugar Brook is located in Will County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sugar Brook
    • Walnut Ridge
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
      • Walnut Ridge is located in Will County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Walnut Ridge
    • Walnut Woods
      (Less than 2 miles to the west)
      • Walnut Woods is located in Will County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Walnut Woods
    • Willow Grove
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
      • Willow Grove is located in Will County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Willow Grove
    • Woodleaf
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
      • Woodleaf is located in Will County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Woodleaf

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

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

  • Joliet, which is the Seat of Will County, lies 12 miles [19.3 km]<1> to the south. If you could walk a straight line from River Woods Estates to Joliet, with an average speed<2> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take five to six hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take nearly four hours.
  • Springfield, which is the State Capital of Illinois, lies 156 miles [251.1 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 612 miles [984.9 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 6,206 miles [9,987.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<4>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,945 miles [11,176.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,829 miles [7,771.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- River Woods Estates) 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 River Woods Estates 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 River Woods Estates. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 41.7128, Longitude: -88.0719       In this case, the coordinates for River Woods Estates have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<4>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 314.728 degrees.
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 311.641 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 308.832 degrees.