RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Nebraska >> Dawson County >> Willow Island >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Willow Island, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Willow Island 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 Willow Island:
    • 40.888698, -100.071718
    • 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 Willow Island
  • 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 Dawson County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Dawson County
    • Since Willow Island is near Lincoln County and also Frontier County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Lincoln County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Frontier 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 Willow Island

Communities Also Named Willow Island ...

We found one communities that are also named Willow Island.

Within Nebraska, the name Willow Island is unique.

Beyond Nebraska, there is another community also named Willow Island in the United States.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • West Virginia
      • Pleasants County
      • This Willow Island is located in Pleasants County and lies 994 miles [1,599.7 km]<1> to the east of the Willow Island that is located in Dawson County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Pleasants County community of Willow Island.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Willow Island ...

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.

  • Brady
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northwest)
  • Buffalo
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Buffalo is located in Dawson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Buffalo
  • Devils Gap
    (23 miles [37 km] to the southeast)
    • Devils Gap is located in Gosper County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Devils Gap
  • Keith
    (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Keith is located in Lincoln County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Keith
  • Maxwell
    (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northwest)

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

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

  • Lexington, which is the Seat of Dawson County, lies 18 miles [29 km]<1> to the east southeast. If you could walk a straight line from Willow Island to Lexington, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take just over a day to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take five to six hours.
  • Lincoln, which is the State Capital of Nebraska, lies 176 miles [283.2 km] to the east (E). 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 1,224 miles [1,969.8 km] to the east (E). Driving would take about three full days, a buggy would take 48 days and walking would take 70 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,659 miles [10,716.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,416 miles [11,934.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,330 miles [8,577.8 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- Willow Island) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<2>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<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 Willow Island 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 Willow Island. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 40.8887, Longitude: -100.0717    
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 323.01 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 321.065 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 315.167 degrees.