Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Blue Mills, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Blue Mills and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Blue Mills
- 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 Blue Mills:
- 39.149449, -94.303004
- 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 Blue Mills
- 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 Jackson County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Jackson County
- Since Blue Mills is near Clay County and also Ray County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Clay County
- eBird sighting report for Ray 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
Curious and Interesting Names Near Blue Mills ...
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.
- Cement City
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Cement City have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cement City
- Cement City is located in Jackson County
- Cobbler
(Less than 2 miles to the northwest) - Independence
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Independence
- Independence is located in Jackson County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 116,774 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Independence <2>
- Lake City
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast) - Liberty
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Liberty
- Liberty is located in Clay County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 32,418 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Liberty <2>
- Maywood
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Maywood
- Maywood is located in Jackson County
- Pink Hill
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast) - River Bend
(5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for River Bend have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for River Bend
- River Bend is located in Jackson County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 10 people
- Rock Creek Junction
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Rock Creek Junction have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rock Creek Junction
- Rock Creek Junction is located in Jackson County
- Six-Mile
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the east) - Sugar Creek
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sugar Creek
- Sugar Creek is located in Clay County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 3,235 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Sugar Creek <2>
How Far From Blue Mills 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 Blue Mills to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<3> beginning in Blue Mills and extending to:
- Independence, which is the Seat of Jackson County, lies just to the West Southwest.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 925 miles [1,488.6 km]<3> to the east (E). If you could drive a straight line from Blue Mills to White House, with an average speed<4>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take most of two days to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 53 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 37 days.
- The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,559 miles [10,555.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,304 miles [11,754.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,193 miles [8,357.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
Off-the-Road Links ...
Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Blue Mills. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.
The official website for Jackson County: www.co.jackson.mo.us/
The official website for State of Missouri: https://www.mo.gov/
Footnotes ...
| <1> | 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. |
| <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 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Blue Mills) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Blue Mills. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 39.1494, Longitude: -94.3030 In this case, the coordinates for Blue Mills have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <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 Blue Mills to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East. |
| <6> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 318.845 degrees. |
| <7> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 316.023 degrees. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 312.515 degrees. |