RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Michigan >> Clinton County >> Duplain >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Duplain, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Duplain 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 Duplain:
    • 43.045254, -84.452397
    • 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 Duplain
  • 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 Clinton County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Clinton County
    • Since Duplain is near Gratiot County and also Shiawassee County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Gratiot County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Shiawassee 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 Duplain

Curious and Interesting Names Near Duplain ...

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.

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

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<2> beginning in Duplain and extending to:

  • Saint Johns, which is the Seat of Clinton County, lies just to the West Southwest.
  • Lansing, which is the State Capital of Michigan, lies 22 miles [35.4 km]<2> to the south southwest (SSW). If you could walk a straight line from Duplain to Lansing, with an average speed<3> 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.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 480 miles [772.5 km] to the southeast (SE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take most of a day, a buggy would take 19 days and walking would take 28 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,009 miles [9,670.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,745 miles [10,855 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,627 miles [7,446.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

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>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- Duplain) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<3>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.
<4>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 Duplain 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 Duplain. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 43.0453, Longitude: -84.4524    
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 312.311 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 309.085 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 306.621 degrees.