RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Missouri >> Texas County >> Dykes >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Dykes, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Dykes 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 Dykes:
    • 37.333659, -92.115714
    • 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 Dykes
  • 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 Texas County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Texas County
    • Since Dykes is near Wright County and also Laclede County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Wright County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Laclede 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 Dykes

Communities Also Named Dykes ...

We found four communities that are also named Dykes.

Within Missouri, the name Dykes is unique.

Beyond Missouri, we know of four communities that are located in the United States.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Georgia
      • Floyd County
      • This community is historic<1> and we have very little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Georgia community of Dykes [Floyd County].
    • Kentucky
      • Pulaski County
      • This Dykes is located in Pulaski County and lies 422 miles [679.1 km]<2> to the east of the Dykes that is located in Texas County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Pulaski County community of Dykes.
    • Tennessee
      • Roane County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<3> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Tennessee community of Dykes [Roane County].
      • Union County
      • This Dykes is located in Union County and lies 462 miles [743.5 km]<2> to the east of the Dykes that is located in Texas County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Union County community of Dykes.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Dykes ...

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.

  • Alice
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Alice is located in Texas County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alice
  • Clara
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Clara is located in Texas County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clara
  • Fowler
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Fowler is located in Texas County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fowler
  • Gravel Point ‑ Historic
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
    • Gravel Point is located in Texas County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gravel Point
  • Mineral Springs City
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
    • Mineral Springs City is located in Texas County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mineral Springs City
  • Mitchells Corner
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Mitchells Corner is located in Texas County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mitchells Corner
  • Old Success
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
    • Old Success is located in Texas County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Old Success
  • Pleasant Ridge
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Pleasant Ridge is located in Texas County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pleasant Ridge
  • Plum Valley
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Plum Valley is located in Texas County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Plum Valley
  • Success
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)

How Far From Dykes to ...

We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers & Almanacs that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a community such as Dykes to various places of note, such as the White House.

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Dykes and extending to:

  • Houston, which is the Seat of Texas County, lies just to the East.
  • Jefferson City, which is the State Capital of Missouri, lies 85 miles [136.8 km]<2> to the north (N). If you could drive a straight line from Dykes to Jefferson City, with an average speed<5>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take less than two hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 5 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take most of three days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 825 miles [1,327.7 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take just about two full days, a buggy would take 33 days and walking would take 47 days.
  • The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,573 miles [10,578.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,309 miles [11,762.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,189 miles [8,350.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>'

Footnotes ...

<1>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 Dykes, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<2>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or 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- Dykes) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<3>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 Bird Creek to see Pete ... Bird 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 Dykes 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.
<4>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<5>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.
<6>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 Dykes 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 Dykes. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 37.3337, Longitude: -92.1157       In this case, the coordinates for Dykes have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 317.268 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 313.96 degrees.
<9>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 311.822 degrees.