RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Oklahoma >> Harmon County >> Vinson >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Vinson, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Vinson 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 Vinson:
    • 34.900609, -99.859568
    • 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 Vinson
  • 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 Harmon County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Harmon County
    • Since Vinson is near Greer County and also Collingsworth County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Greer County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Collingsworth 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 Vinson

Communities Also Named Vinson ...

We found six communities that are also named Vinson.

Within Oklahoma, the name Vinson is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Arkansas
      • Chicot County
      • This community is historic<1> and we have very little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Arkansas community of Vinson [Chicot County].
    • Georgia
      • Paulding County
      • This community is historic<1> and we have very little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Georgia community of Vinson [Paulding County].
    • Missouri
      • Stoddard 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 Missouri community of Vinson [Stoddard County].
    • Oregon
      • Umatilla County
      • This Vinson is located in Umatilla County and lies 1,244 miles [2,002 km]<3> to the northwest of the Vinson that is located in Harmon County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Umatilla County community of Vinson.
    • Tennessee
      • Stewart County
      • This Vinson is located in Stewart County and lies 673 miles [1,083.1 km]<3> to the east northeast of the Vinson that is located in Harmon County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Stewart County community of Vinson.
    • Texas
      • Travis County
      • This Vinson is located in Travis County and lies 345 miles [555.2 km]<3> to the south southeast of the Vinson that is located in Harmon County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Travis County community of Vinson.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Vinson ...

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.

  • Carl
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Carl is located in Harmon County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Carl
  • Duke
    (23 miles [37 km] to the southeast)
  • Jester
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
  • Loco ‑ Historic
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Loco is located in Childress County (TX)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Loco
  • Louis ‑ Historic
    (23 miles [37 km] to the south)
  • Madge
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Madge is located in Harmon County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Madge
  • Plainview
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Plainview is located in Greer County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Plainview
  • Reed
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
  • Sandy
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
  • Willow
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northeast)

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

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

  • Hollis, which is the Seat of Harmon County, lies 14 miles [22.5 km]<3> to the south southwest. If you could walk a straight line from Vinson to Hollis, 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.
  • Oklahoma City, which is the State Capital of Oklahoma, lies 137 miles [220.5 km] to the east northeast (ENE). 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 1,286 miles [2,069.6 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take about three full days, a buggy would take 51 days and walking would take 73 days.
  • The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,980 miles [11,233.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,727 miles [12,435.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,617 miles [9,039.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>'

Footnotes ...

<1>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 Vinson, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<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 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 Vinson 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>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Vinson) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<4>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<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 Vinson 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 Vinson. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 34.9006, Longitude: -99.8596    
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 322.298 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 319.52 degrees.
<9>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 315.855 degrees.