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Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Ballou, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Ballou 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 Ballou:
- 40.199775, -84.060217
- 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 Ballou
- 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 Shelby County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- Open the eBird sighting report for Shelby County
- Since Ballou is near Champaign County and also Miami County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- Open the eBird sighting report for Champaign County
- Open the eBird sighting report for Miami 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 Ballou
Communities Also Named Ballou ...
We found six communities that are also named Ballou.
There are two communities within Ohio that are also named Ballou.
Beyond Ohio, we know of four communities that are located in the United States.
- Communities Located In Ohio ...
- Miami County
- We found mention of this community, but have little information.<1> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Ohio community of Ballou [Miami County].
- Muskingum County
- We found mention of this community, but have little information.<1> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Ohio community of Ballou [Muskingum County].
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- California
- San Bernardino County
- This Ballou is located in San Bernardino County and lies 1,883 miles [3,030.4 km]<2> to the west of the Ballou that is located in Shelby County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the San Bernardino County community of Ballou.
- Illinois
- Will County
- This Ballou is located in Will County and lies 224 miles [360.5 km]<2> to the west northwest of the Ballou that is located in Shelby County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Will County community of Ballou.
- Oklahoma
- Mayes County
- This Ballou is located in Mayes County and lies 665 miles [1,070.2 km]<2> to the west southwest of the Ballou that is located in Shelby County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Mayes County community of Ballou.
- Wisconsin
- Ashland County
- This Ballou is located in Ashland County and lies 534 miles [859.4 km]<2> to the northwest of the Ballou that is located in Shelby County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Ashland County community of Ballou.
Curious and Interesting Names Near Ballou ...
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.
- Carysville
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
- Carysville is located in Champaign County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Carysville
- Christiansburg
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
- Crayon
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
- Crayon is located in Champaign County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crayon
- Lena
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
- Lena is located in Miami County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lena
- Rosewood
(5 miles [8 km] to the east)
- Rosewood is located in Champaign County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rosewood
- Sodom ‑ Historic
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
- Sodom is located in Miami County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sodom
- Twin Lakes ‑ Historic
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
- Twin Lakes is located in Miami County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Twin Lakes
- Valentine ‑ Historic
(Less than 2 miles to the north)
- Valentine is located in Shelby County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Valentine
How Far From Ballou 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 Ballou to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Ballou and extending to:
- Sidney, which is the Seat of Shelby County, lies just to the Northwest.
- Columbus, which is the State Capital of Ohio, lies 58 miles [93.3 km]<2> to the east southeast (ESE). If you could walk a straight line from Ballou to Columbus, 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 over two days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 384 miles [618 km] to the east southeast (ESE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take most of a day, a buggy would take 15 days and walking would take 22 days.
- The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,126 miles [9,858.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,852 miles [11,027.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,729 miles [7,610.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'
Footnotes ...
| <1> | 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 Ballou 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. |
| <2> | 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 from Point A (ie- Ballou) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'. |
| <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 Ballou 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 Ballou. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 40.1998, Longitude: -84.0602 In this case, the coordinates for Ballou have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <6> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 312.136 degrees. |
| <7> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 308.467 degrees. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 307.362 degrees. |
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