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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Lucky Mound, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Lucky Mound 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 Lucky Mound:
    • 47.723159, -102.232704
    • 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 Lucky Mound
  • 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 McLean County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for McLean County
    • Since Lucky Mound is near Dunn County and also Mercer County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Dunn County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Mercer 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 Lucky Mound

Curious and Interesting Names Near Lucky Mound ...

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 Lucky Mound to ...

We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers, Almanacs & Directories that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a community such as Lucky Mound 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 Lucky Mound once stood, the straight-line distance<3> beginning in Lucky Mound and extending to:

  • Washburn, which is the Seat of McLean County, lies 63 miles [101.4 km]<3> to the east southeast. If you could walk a straight line from Lucky Mound to Washburn, with an average speed<4> 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 about three full days.
  • Bismarck, which is the State Capital of North Dakota, lies 93 miles [149.7 km] to the southeast (SE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than two hours, a buggy would take most of three days and walking would take 6 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 1,396 miles [2,246.6 km] to the east southeast (ESE). Driving would take about three full days, a buggy would take 55 days and walking would take 80 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,340 miles [10,203.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,106 miles [11,436 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,070 miles [8,159.4 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 Lucky Mound, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<3>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Lucky Mound) 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 Lucky Mound 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 Lucky Mound. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 47.7232, Longitude: -102.2327    
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 324.904 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 324.038 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 315.127 degrees.