RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Ohio >> Champaign County >> Eris >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Eris, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Eris 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 Eris:
    • 40.156167, -83.852711
    • 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 Eris
  • 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 Champaign County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Champaign County
    • Since Eris is near Logan County and also Clark County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Logan County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Clark 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 Eris

Curious and Interesting Names Near Eris ...

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.

  • Bowlusville
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
    • Bowlusville is located in Champaign County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bowlusville
  • Cable
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
    • Cable is located in Champaign County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cable
  • Carysville
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Carysville is located in Champaign County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Carysville
  • Christiansburg
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
  • Crayon
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Crayon is located in Champaign County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crayon
  • Glen Echo
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
    • Glen Echo is located in Clark County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Glen Echo
  • Kingscreek
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Kingscreek is located in Champaign County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kingscreek
  • Lena
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
    • Lena is located in Miami County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lena
  • Mingo
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
  • Owl Town ‑ Historic
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
    • Owl Town is located in Clark County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Owl Town
  • Rosewood
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Rosewood is located in Champaign County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rosewood
  • Spunky Puddle ‑ Historic
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
    • Spunky Puddle is located in Clark County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spunky Puddle
  • Valentine ‑ Historic
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
    • Valentine is located in Shelby County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Valentine
  • Windy Corner
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Windy Corner is located in Clark County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Windy Corner

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

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<2> beginning in Eris and extending to:

  • Urbana, which is the Seat of Champaign County, lies just to the East Southeast.
  • Columbus, which is the State Capital of Ohio, lies 47 miles [75.6 km]<2> to the east southeast (ESE). If you could walk a straight line from Eris to Columbus, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take about three full days to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take most of two days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 373 miles [600.3 km] to the east southeast (ESE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take 6 hours, a buggy would take 15 days and walking would take 22 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,120 miles [9,849.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,846 miles [11,017.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,722 miles [7,599.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

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>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- Eris) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 Eris 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 Eris. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 40.1562, Longitude: -83.8527       In this case, the coordinates for Eris have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 312.005 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 308.312 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 307.28 degrees.