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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Plano, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Plano 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 Plano:
    • 37.192829, -93.551031
    • 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 Plano
  • 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 Greene County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Greene County
    • Since Plano is near Lawrence County and also Christian County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Lawrence County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Christian 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 Plano

Communities Also Named Plano ...

We found fourteen communities that are also named Plano.

Within Missouri, the name Plano is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Alabama
      • Cherokee County
      • This Plano is located in Cherokee County and lies 487 miles [783.8 km]<1> to the east southeast of the Plano that is located in Greene County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Cherokee County community of Plano.
    • California
      • Tulare County
      • This Plano is located in Tulare County and lies 1,408 miles [2,266 km]<1> to the west of the Plano that is located in Greene County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Tulare County community of Plano.
    • Idaho
      • Madison County
      • This Plano is located in Madison County and lies 1,064 miles [1,712.3 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Plano that is located in Greene County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Madison County community of Plano.
    • Illinois
      • Kendall County
      • This Plano is located in Kendall County and lies 409 miles [658.2 km]<1> to the northeast of the Plano that is located in Greene County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Kendall County community of Plano.
    • Indiana
      • Morgan County
      • This Plano is located in Morgan County and lies 408 miles [656.6 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Plano that is located in Greene County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Morgan County community of Plano.
    • Iowa
      • Appanoose County
      • This Plano is located in Appanoose County and lies 247 miles [397.5 km]<1> to the north of the Plano that is located in Greene County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Appanoose County community of Plano.
    • Kansas
      • Comanche County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<2> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Kansas community of Plano [Comanche County].
      • Stafford County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Kansas community of Plano [Stafford County].
    • Kentucky
      • Warren County
      • This Plano is located in Warren County and lies 393 miles [632.5 km]<1> to the east of the Plano that is located in Greene County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Warren County community of Plano.
    • Minnesota
      • Nicollet County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<2> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Minnesota community of Plano [Nicollet County].
    • Nebraska
      • Keith County
      • This community is historic<3> and although located in Keith County, we don't know where within the county.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Keith County community of Plano.
    • Ohio
      • Fayette County
      • This Plano is located in Fayette County and lies 577 miles [928.6 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Plano that is located in Greene County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Fayette County community of Plano.
    • South Dakota
      • Hanson County
      • This Plano is located in Hanson County and lies 510 miles [820.8 km]<1> to the north northwest of the Plano that is located in Greene County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Hanson County community of Plano.
    • Texas
      • Collin County
      • This Plano is located in Collin County and lies 338 miles [544 km]<1> to the southwest of the Plano that is located in Greene County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Collin County community of Plano.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Plano ...

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.

  • Call
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
    • Call is located in Lawrence County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Call
  • Cave Spring
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Cave Spring is located in Greene County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cave Spring
  • Clever
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
    • Clever is located in Christian County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clever
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,836 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Clever <4>
  • Emmett ‑ Historic
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Emmett is located in Dade County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Emmett
  • Griffin ‑ Historic
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Griffin is located in Christian County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Griffin
  • Halltown
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
  • Harold
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
    • Harold is located in Greene County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harold
  • Heatonville
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
    • Heatonville is located in Lawrence County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Heatonville
  • Orange
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Orange is located in Lawrence County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Orange
  • Paris Springs
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • Paris Springs is located in Lawrence County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Paris Springs
  • Pearl
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
    • Pearl is located in Greene County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pearl
  • Republic
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)

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

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

  • Springfield, which is the Seat of Greene County, lies 14 miles [22.5 km]<1> to the east. If you could walk a straight line from Plano to Springfield, with an average speed<5> 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.
  • Jefferson City, which is the State Capital of Missouri, lies 121 miles [194.7 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take about two hours, a buggy would take 5 days and walking would take 7 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 904 miles [1,454.8 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take most of two days, a buggy would take 36 days and walking would take 52 days.
  • The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,634 miles [10,676.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,372 miles [11,864.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,254 miles [8,455.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>'

Footnotes ...

<1>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 drawn from Point A (ie- Plano) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<2>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 Plano 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.
<3>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 Plano, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<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 Plano 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 Plano. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 37.1928, Longitude: -93.5510       In this case, the coordinates for Plano have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 318.212 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 315.034 degrees.
<9>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 312.521 degrees.