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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Vida, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Vida 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 Vida:
    • 37.856986, -91.799601
    • 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 Vida
  • 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 Phelps County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Phelps County
    • Since Vida is near Dent County and also Pulaski County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Dent County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Pulaski 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 Vida

Communities Also Named Vida ...

We found five communities that are also named Vida.

Within Missouri, the name Vida is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Alabama
      • Autauga County
      • This Vida is located in Autauga County and lies 463 miles [745.1 km]<1> to the southeast of the Vida that is located in Phelps County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Autauga County community of Vida.
    • Louisiana
      • Iberia Parish
      • This Vida is located in Iberia Parish and lies 540 miles [869 km]<1> to the south of the Vida that is located in Phelps County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Iberia Parish community of Vida.
    • Michigan
      • Alger 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 Michigan community of Vida [Alger County].
    • Montana
      • McCone County
      • This Vida is located in McCone County and lies 974 miles [1,567.5 km]<1> to the northwest of the Vida that is located in Phelps County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the McCone County community of Vida.
    • Oregon
      • Lane County
      • This Vida is located in Lane County and lies 1,650 miles [2,655.4 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Vida that is located in Phelps County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Lane County community of Vida.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Vida ...

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.

  • Austria ‑ Historic
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)
    • Austria is located in Phelps County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Austria
  • De Camp ‑ Historic
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
    • De Camp is located in Phelps County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for De Camp
  • Dean Ford
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Dean Ford is located in Phelps County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dean Ford
  • Flat
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Flat is located in Phelps County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Flat
  • Jerome
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Jerome is located in Phelps County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jerome
  • Lake Spring
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Lake Spring is located in Dent County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lake Spring
  • Signal ‑ Historic
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
    • Signal is located in Phelps County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Signal
  • Spring Creek
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Spring Creek is located in Phelps County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spring Creek
  • Sugartree
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Sugartree is located in Phelps County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sugartree
  • Table Rock
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Table Rock is located in Phelps County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Table Rock
  • Yancy Mills
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Yancy Mills is located in Phelps County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Yancy Mills

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

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

  • Rolla, which is the Seat of Phelps County, lies just to the North Northeast.
  • Jefferson City, which is the State Capital of Missouri, lies 53 miles [85.3 km]<1> to the north northwest (NNW). If you could walk a straight line from Vida to Jefferson City, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take most of three days to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take over two days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 801 miles [1,289.1 km] to the east (E). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take just about two full days, a buggy would take 32 days and walking would take 46 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,535 miles [10,517.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,271 miles [11,701.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,152 miles [8,291.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Vida) 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 Vida 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 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.
<4>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 Vida 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 Vida. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 37.8570, Longitude: -91.7996       In this case, the coordinates for Vida have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 317.09 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 313.824 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 311.569 degrees.