Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Strakers, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Strakers and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Strakers
- 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 Strakers:
- 40.306159, -84.495508
- 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 Strakers
- 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 Darke County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Darke County
- Since Strakers is near Mercer County and also Auglaize County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Mercer County
- eBird sighting report for Auglaize 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
Curious and Interesting Names Near Strakers ...
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.
- Bloomer
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast) - Chickasaw
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Chickasaw have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chickasaw
- Chickasaw is located in Mercer County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 297 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Chickasaw <2>
- Cranberry Prairie
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Cranberry Prairie have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cranberry Prairie
- Cranberry Prairie is located in Mercer County
- Dawn
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dawn
- Dawn is located in Darke County
- Earls Island
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Earls Island have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Earls Island
- Earls Island is located in Shelby County
- Egypt
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast) - Frenchtown
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Frenchtown
- Frenchtown is located in Darke County
- Needmore
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the south) - Russia
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Russia have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Russia
- Russia is located in Shelby County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 665 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Russia <2>
- Yorkshire
(Less than 2 miles to the north)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Yorkshire
- Yorkshire is located in Darke County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 148 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Yorkshire <2>
How Far From Strakers to ...
We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers & Almanacs that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a community such as Strakers to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers and using the location of where the historic<3> community of Strakers once stood, the straight-line distance<4> beginning in Strakers and extending to:
- Greenville, which is the Seat of Darke County, lies 15 miles [24.1 km]<4> to the south southwest. If you could walk a straight line from Strakers to Greenville, with an average speed<5> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take most of a day to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take four to five hours.
- Columbus, which is the State Capital of Ohio, lies 82 miles [132 km] to the east southeast (ESE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than two hours, a buggy would take most of three days and walking would take 5 days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 408 miles [656.6 km] to the east southeast (ESE). Driving would take most of a day, a buggy would take 16 days and walking would take 24 days.
- The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,138 miles [9,878.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,866 miles [11,049.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,743 miles [7,633.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
Off-the-Road Links ...
The official website for Darke County: www.co.darke.oh.us/
The official website for State of Ohio: https://ohio.gov/
Footnotes ...
| <1> | 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. |
| <2> | While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program. |
| <3> | We use the term 'Historic' broadly and it generally means that the community no longer exists. However, it can also mean that the community might still exist, but was significantly larger or had a more 'official' existence in the past than it does now. Unfortunately our sources of data have proven to be unreliable. If you can provide us with more specific information about Strakers, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |
| <4> | Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or 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- Strakers) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Strakers. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 40.3062, Longitude: -84.4955 In this case, the coordinates for Strakers have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <5> | 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. |
| <6> | 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 Strakers to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East. |
| <7> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 312.411 degrees. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 308.796 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 307.531 degrees. |