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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 Spires, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Spires 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 Spires:
- 40.876422, -88.960352
- 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 Spires
- 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 Woodford County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- Open the eBird sighting report for Woodford County
- Since Spires is near La Salle County and also Livingston 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 Livingston 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 Spires
Communities Also Named Spires ...
We found one communities that are also named Spires.
Within Illinois, the name Spires is unique.
Beyond Illinois, there is another community also named Spires in the United States.
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Michigan
- Muskegon County
- We found mention of this community, but have little information.<1> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Michigan community of Spires [Muskegon County].
Curious and Interesting Names Near Spires ...
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.
- Coalville
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the north)
- Coalville is located in Livingston County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Coalville
- Dana
(5 miles [8 km] to the north)
- Evans ‑ Historic
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the northwest)
- Evans is located in Marshall County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Evans
- Long Point
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
- Manville
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
- Manville is located in Livingston County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Manville
- Meadows
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
- Meadows is located in McLean County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Meadows
- Reading
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
- Reading is located in Livingston County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Reading
- Rooks Creek
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)
- Rooks Creek is located in Livingston County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rooks Creek
- Rutland
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
- Waldo
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
- Waldo is located in Livingston County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Waldo
How Far From Spires to ...
We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a community such as Spires to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<3> beginning in Spires and extending to:
- Eureka, which is the Seat of Woodford County, lies 20 miles [32.2 km]<3> to the west southwest. If you could walk a straight line from Spires to Eureka, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take just over a day to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take most of a day.
- Springfield, which is the State Capital of Illinois, lies 83 miles [133.6 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 most of three days and walking would take 5 days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 645 miles [1,038 km] to the east (E). Driving would take just over a day, a buggy would take 26 days and walking would take 37 days.
- The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,280 miles [10,106.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,018 miles [11,294.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,902 miles [7,889 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'
Footnotes ...
| <1> | 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 Spires 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. |
| <2> | While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program. |
| <3> | Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Spires) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'. |
| <4> | 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. |
| <5> | 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 Spires 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 Spires. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 40.8764, Longitude: -88.9604 In this case, the coordinates for Spires have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <6> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 315.313 degrees. |
| <7> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 312.193 degrees. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 309.499 degrees. |
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