RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of North Dakota >> Barnes County >> Eckelson >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Eckelson, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Eckelson 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 Eckelson:
    • 46.938733, -98.333327
    • 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 Eckelson
  • 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 Barnes County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Barnes County
    • Since Eckelson is near Stutsman County and also LaMoure County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Stutsman County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for LaMoure 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 Eckelson

Curious and Interesting Names Near Eckelson ...

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 Eckelson 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 Eckelson to various places of note, such as the White House.

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

  • Valley City, which is the Seat of Barnes County, lies 15 miles [24.1 km]<2> to the east. If you could walk a straight line from Eckelson to Valley City, with an average speed<3> 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.
  • Bismarck, which is the State Capital of North Dakota, lies 115 miles [185.1 km] to the west (W). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take about two hours, a buggy would take 5 days and walking would take 7 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 1,206 miles [1,940.9 km] to the east southeast (ESE). Driving would take about three full days, a buggy would take 48 days and walking would take 69 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,274 miles [10,097 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,038 miles [11,326.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,977 miles [8,009.7 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 '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- Eckelson) 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 Eckelson 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 Eckelson. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 46.9387, Longitude: -98.3333    
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 321.975 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 320.604 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 313.005 degrees.