RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of New Mexico >> Quay County >> Ragland >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Ragland, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Ragland and the surrounding area.

  • 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 Ragland:
    • 34.822529, -103.742272
    • 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 Ragland
  • 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 Quay County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Quay County
    • Since Ragland is near Curry County and also Roosevelt County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Curry County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Roosevelt 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 Ragland

Communities Also Named Ragland ...

We found six communities that are also named Ragland.

Within New Mexico, the name Ragland is unique.

Beyond New Mexico, we know of six communities that are located in the United States.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Alabama
      • Saint Clair County
      • This Ragland is located in Saint Clair County and lies 1,004 miles [1,615.8 km]<1> to the east of the Ragland that is located in Quay County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Saint Clair County community of Ragland.
    • Georgia
      • Troup County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<2> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Georgia community of Ragland [Troup County].
    • Kentucky
      • McCracken County
      • This Ragland is located in McCracken County and lies 844 miles [1,358.3 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Ragland that is located in Quay County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the McCracken County community of Ragland.
    • Mississippi
      • Forrest County
      • This Ragland is located in Forrest County and lies 878 miles [1,413 km]<1> to the east southeast of the Ragland that is located in Quay County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Forrest County community of Ragland.
    • West Virginia
      • Logan County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<2> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the West Virginia community of Ragland [Logan County].
      • Mingo County
      • This Ragland is located in Mingo County and lies 1,216 miles [1,957 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Ragland that is located in Quay County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Mingo County community of Ragland.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Ragland ...

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.

  • Field
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Field is located in Curry County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Field
  • Grady
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the east)
  • House
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)
  • Jordan
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Jordan is located in Quay County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jordan
  • Plain ‑ Historic
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
    • Plain is located in Quay County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Plain
  • Quay
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Quay is located in Quay County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Quay
  • Wheatland
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the east)
    • Wheatland is located in Quay County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wheatland

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

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

  • Tucumcari, which is the Seat of Quay County, lies 24 miles [38.6 km]<1> to the north. If you could walk a straight line from Ragland to Tucumcari, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take just about two full days to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take most of a day.
  • Santa Fe, which is the State Capital of New Mexico, lies 137 miles [220.5 km] to the west northwest (WNW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than three hours, a buggy would take 6 days and walking would take 8 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 1,496 miles [2,407.6 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take most of three days, a buggy would take 59 days and walking would take 85 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 7,115 miles [11,450.5 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,869 miles [12,663.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,771 miles [9,287.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Ragland) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 Bird Creek to see Pete ... Bird Creek 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 Ragland 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>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<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 Ragland 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 Ragland. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 34.8225, Longitude: -103.7423    
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 325.058 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 322.77 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 317.775 degrees.