Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Alanthus, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Alanthus and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Alanthus
- 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 Alanthus:
- 38.700014, -100.167074
- 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.
- The Heavens-Above Website, centered on Alanthus
- 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 Gove County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Gove County
- Since Alanthus is near Ness County and also Trego County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Ness County
- eBird sighting report for Trego 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:
- Waymark.com
Communities Also Named Alanthus ...
We found three communities that share the name Alanthus.
Within Kansas, the name Alanthus is unique.
Beyond Kansas, we know of another three communities that are located throughout in the United States.
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Alabama
- Missouri
- Virginia
Curious and Interesting Names Near Alanthus ...
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.
- Arnold
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast) - Fort Downer
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Fort Downer have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fort Downer
- Fort Downer is located in Trego County
- Park
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the north) - Ransom
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ransom
- Ransom is located in Ness County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 262 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Ransom <4>
- Shields
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
How Far From Alanthus 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 Alanthus 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<5> community of Alanthus once stood, the straight-line distance beginning in Alanthus and extending to:
- Gove City, which is the Seat of Gove County, lies 24 miles [38.6 km]<2> to the northwest. If you could walk a straight line from Alanthus to Gove City, with an average speed<6> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take just about two full days to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take most of a day.
- Topeka, which is the State Capital of Kansas, lies 242 miles [389.5 km] to the east (E). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take nearly four hours, a buggy would take 10 days and walking would take 14 days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 1,241 miles [1,997.2 km] to the east (E). Driving would take about three full days, a buggy would take 49 days and walking would take 71 days.
- The shortest distance<7> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,782 miles [10,914.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,537 miles [12,129.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,441 miles [8,756.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<10>
Off-the-Road Links ...
The official website for State of Kansas: https://portal.kansas.gov/
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 Rock Creek to see Pete ... Rock 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 Alanthus 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> | Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Alanthus) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Alanthus. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 38.7000, Longitude: -100.1671 In this case, the coordinates for Alanthus have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <3> | The location has been supplied by the Geographic Names Information System - which is maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). While these values should be definitive, we found that accuracy can vary and you should double-check the location if accuracy is required. |
| <4> | While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program. |
| <5> | 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 Alanthus, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |
| <6> | 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. |
| <7> | 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 Alanthus to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 322.909 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 320.688 degrees. |
| <10> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 315.544 degrees. |