Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in McCook, we use the following websites to find information relevant to McCook and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for McCook
- 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 McCook:
- 40.206899, -100.625404
- 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.
- The Heavens-Above Website, centered on McCook
- 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 Red Willow County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Red Willow County
- Since McCook is near Hitchcock County and also Decatur County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Hitchcock County
- eBird sighting report for Decatur 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:
- Waymark.com
Communities Also Named McCook ...
We found three communities that share the name McCook.
Within Nebraska, the name McCook is unique.
Beyond Nebraska, we know of another three communities that are located throughout in the United States.
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Illinois
- South Dakota
- Texas
Curious and Interesting Names Near McCook ...
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.
- Beverly
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the west) - Cedar Bluffs
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Cedar Bluffs have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cedar Bluffs
- Cedar Bluffs is located in Decatur County (KS)
- Freedom
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the northeast) - Lyle
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the southeast) - Marion
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast) - Quick
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the north) - Red Willow
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Red Willow
- Red Willow is located in Red Willow County
How Far From McCook 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 city such as McCook to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in McCook and extending to:
- Lincoln, which is the State Capital of Nebraska, lies 210 miles [338 km]<1> to the east northeast (ENE). If you could drive a straight line from McCook to Lincoln, with an average speed<4>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take a little over three hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 12 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 9 days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 1,255 miles [2,019.7 km] to the east (E). Driving would take about three full days, a buggy would take 49 days and walking would take 72 days.
- The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,714 miles [10,805.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,471 miles [12,023.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,384 miles [8,664.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
Off-the-Road Links ...
Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for McCook. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.
The official website for Red Willow County: www.co.red-willow.ne.us/
The official website for State of Nebraska: www.nebraska.gov/
Footnotes ...
| <1> | Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- McCook) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in McCook. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 40.2069, Longitude: -100.6254 |
| <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 Mile's to see Pete ... Mile's 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 McCook 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> | The location has been supplied by the Geographic Names Information System - which is maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). While these values should be definitive, we found that accuracy can vary and you should double-check the location if accuracy is required. |
| <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 McCook to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East. |
| <6> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 323.362 degrees. |
| <7> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 321.393 degrees. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 315.567 degrees. |