RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Missouri >> Ralls County >> Shaver Ford >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Shaver Ford, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Shaver Ford and the surrounding area.

  • Weather ...
  • 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 Shaver Ford:
    • 39.521445, -91.689600
    • 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 Shaver Ford
  • 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 Ralls County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Ralls County
    • Since Shaver Ford is near Monroe County and also Marion County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Monroe County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Marion 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 Shaver Ford

Curious and Interesting Names Near Shaver Ford ...

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.

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

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers and using the location of where the historic<2> community of Shaver Ford once stood, the straight-line distance<3> beginning in Shaver Ford and extending to:

  • New London, which is the Seat of Ralls County, lies 15 miles [24.1 km]<3> to the east northeast. If you could walk a straight line from Shaver Ford to New London, with an average speed<4> 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 70 miles [112.7 km] to the south southwest (SSW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than two hours, a buggy would take about three full days and walking would take three full days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 784 miles [1,261.7 km] to the east (E). Driving would take just about two full days, a buggy would take 31 days and walking would take 45 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,447 miles [10,375.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,187 miles [11,566.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,072 miles [8,162.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

Footnotes ...

<1>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<2>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 Shaver Ford, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<3>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 drawn from Point A (ie- Shaver Ford) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 Shaver Ford 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 Shaver Ford. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 39.5214, Longitude: -91.6896       In this case, the coordinates for Shaver Ford have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 317.097 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 314.054 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 311.159 degrees.