Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Polk, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Polk and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Polk
- 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 Polk:
- 37.729204, -93.299361
- 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 Polk
- 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 Polk County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Polk County
- Since Polk is near Dallas County and also Hickory County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Dallas County
- eBird sighting report for Hickory 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 Polk ...
We found fifteen communities that share the name Polk.
Within Missouri, the name Polk is unique.
Beyond Missouri, we know of another fifteen communities that are located throughout in the United States.
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Alabama
- California
- Illinois
- Iowa
- Kansas
- Nebraska
- North Carolina
- Ohio
- Oklahoma
- Oregon
- Pennsylvania
- Tennessee
- Texas
- West Virginia
- Wisconsin
Curious and Interesting Names Near Polk ...
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.
- Burns
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the south) - Dewey ‑ Historic
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast) - Goodson
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast) - Halfway
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the south) - Louisburg
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the east) - Mohawk Corner
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Mohawk Corner have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mohawk Corner
- Mohawk Corner is located in Polk County
- Sentinel
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the north) - Violet
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
How Far From Polk 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 Polk to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Polk and extending to:
- Bolivar, which is the Seat of Polk County, lies 10 miles [16.1 km]<1> to the southwest. If you could walk a straight line from Polk to Bolivar, with an average speed<5> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take four to five hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take a little over three hours.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 883 miles [1,421.1 km] to the east (E). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take most of two days, a buggy would take 35 days and walking would take 51 days.
- The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,597 miles [10,616.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,336 miles [11,806.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,219 miles [8,399.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
Off-the-Road Links ...
Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Polk. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.
The official website for State of Missouri: https://www.mo.gov/
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 from Point A (ie- Polk) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Polk. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 37.7292, Longitude: -93.2994 In this case, the coordinates for Polk have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <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 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 Polk 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> | 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> | An 'estimated' location is one where we have been given GPS coordinates, but are unable to verify the accuracy of those coordinates. That said, we have some confidence that we have placed the marker near the actual location. A typical reason for being unable to verify a location is that it might be on private property or maybe historic and gone without an obvious trace. |
| <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 Polk to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East. |
| <7> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 318.08 degrees. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 314.952 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 312.303 degrees. |