Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Raytown, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Raytown and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Raytown
- 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 Raytown:
- 38.994372, -94.464079
- 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 Raytown
- 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 Raytown is near Cass County and also Johnson County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Cass County
- eBird sighting report for Johnson 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 Raytown ...
We found three communities that share the name Raytown.
Within Missouri, the name Raytown is unique.
Beyond Missouri, we know of another three communities that are located throughout in the United States.
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Georgia
- Mississippi
- Pennsylvania
Curious and Interesting Names Near Raytown ...
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.
- Independence
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)- 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 <3>
- Indian Village
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Indian Village have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Indian Village
- Indian Village is located in Jackson County
- Knobtown
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast) - Lee's Summit
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Lee's Summit have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lee's Summit
- Lee's Summit is located in Cass County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 101,467 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Lee's Summit <3>
- Little Blue
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Little Blue
- Little Blue is located in Jackson County
- Longview
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast) - Maywood
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Maywood
- Maywood is located in Jackson County
- Red Bridge
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Red Bridge have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Red Bridge
- Red Bridge is located in Jackson County
- Union Point
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Union Point have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Union Point
- Union Point is located in Jackson County
- Unity Village
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Unity Village have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Unity Village
- Unity Village is located in Jackson County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 72 people
- Waldo
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
How Far From Raytown 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 city such as Raytown to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Raytown and extending to:
- Independence, which is the Seat of Jackson County, lies just to the North Northeast.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 934 miles [1,503.1 km]<1> to the east (E). If you could drive a straight line from Raytown to White House, with an average speed<5>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<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 7,318 miles [11,777.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,206 miles [8,378.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
Off-the-Road Links ...
The official website for Raytown: www.raytown.mo.us/
The official website for Jackson County: www.co.jackson.mo.us/
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' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Raytown) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Raytown. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 38.9944, Longitude: -94.4641 In this case, the coordinates for Raytown 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 Mile's to see Pete ... Mile's 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 Raytown 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> | While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program. |
| <4> | 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. |
| <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 Raytown 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 318.946 degrees. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 316.119 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 312.625 degrees. |