RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Missouri >> Jasper County >> West Joplin >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in West Joplin, we use the following websites to find information relevant to West Joplin 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 West Joplin:
    • 37.084569, -94.531149
    • 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 West Joplin
  • 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 Jasper County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Jasper County
    • Since West Joplin is near Newton County and also Cherokee County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Newton County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Cherokee 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 West Joplin

Curious and Interesting Names Near West Joplin ...

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.

  • Airport Drive
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Airport Drive is located in Jasper County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Airport Drive
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 862 people
  • Blendville ‑ Historic
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Blendville is located in Jasper County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Blendville
  • Chitwood
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Chitwood is located in Jasper County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chitwood
  • Cliff Village
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Cliff Village is located in Newton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cliff Village
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 39 people
  • Galena
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
  • Gregg
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Gregg is located in Newton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gregg
  • Iron Gates
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Iron Gates is located in Jasper County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Iron Gates
  • Lone Elm
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
  • Silver Creek
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Silver Creek is located in Newton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Silver Creek
    • Estimated population in 2012: 631 people

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

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<2> beginning in West Joplin and extending to:

  • Carthage, which is the Seat of Jasper County, lies 13 miles [20.9 km]<2> to the east northeast. If you could walk a straight line from West Joplin to Carthage, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take 6 hours 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 164 miles [263.9 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take about three hours, a buggy would take 7 days and walking would take 10 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 958 miles [1,541.8 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take most of two days, a buggy would take 38 days and walking would take 55 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,675 miles [10,742.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,415 miles [11,933.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,299 miles [8,527.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

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>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- West Joplin) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 West Joplin 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 West Joplin. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 37.0846, Longitude: -94.5311       In this case, the coordinates for West Joplin have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 318.861 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 315.774 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 313.004 degrees.