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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 Winkel, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Winkel 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 Winkel:
- 40.348898, -89.641096
- 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 Winkel
- 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 Tazewell County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- Open the eBird sighting report for Tazewell County
- Since Winkel is near Mason County and also Logan County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- Open the eBird sighting report for Mason County
- Open the eBird sighting report for Logan 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 Winkel
Curious and Interesting Names Near Winkel ...
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.
- Allen
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
- Allen is located in Mason County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Allen
- Bishop
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
- Bishop is located in Mason County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bishop
- Forest City
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
- Forest City is located in Mason County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Forest City
- Population from the 2020 Census: 222 people
- Green Valley
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
- Harness
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
- Harness is located in Logan County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harness
- Hartsburg
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
- Luther
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
- Luther is located in Mason County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Luther
- Mason City
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
- New Holland
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
- Union
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
How Far From Winkel 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 Winkel to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers and using the location of where the historic<2> community of Winkel once stood, the straight-line distance<3> beginning in Winkel and extending to:
- Pekin, which is the Seat of Tazewell County, lies 15 miles [24.1 km]<3> to the north. If you could walk a straight line from Winkel to Pekin, with an average speed<4> 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 39 miles [62.8 km] to the south (S). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than an hour, a buggy would take just about two full days and walking would take over two days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 677 miles [1,089.5 km] to the east (E). Driving would take just about two full days, a buggy would take 27 days and walking would take 39 days.
- The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,331 miles [10,188.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,069 miles [11,376.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,952 miles [7,969.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'
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> | 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 Winkel, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |
| <3> | 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 drawn from Point A (ie- Winkel) 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 Winkel 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 Winkel. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 40.3489, Longitude: -89.6411 In this case, the coordinates for Winkel have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <6> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 315.756 degrees. |
| <7> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 312.627 degrees. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 309.967 degrees. |
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