RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Texas >> Refugio County >> Austwell >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

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

  • Weather ...
  • 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 Austwell:
    • 28.391094, -96.843713
    • 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 Austwell
  • 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 Refugio County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Refugio County
    • Since Austwell is near Calhoun County and also Aransas County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Calhoun County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Aransas 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 Austwell

Curious and Interesting Names Near Austwell ...

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.

  • Clark Station
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Clark Station is located in Calhoun County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clark Station
  • Green Lake
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
    • Green Lake is located in Calhoun County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Green Lake
  • Guadalupe
    (25 miles [40.2 km] to the north)
    • Guadalupe is located in Victoria County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Guadalupe
  • Holiday Beach
    (18 miles [29 km] to the southwest)
    • Holiday Beach is located in Aransas County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Holiday Beach
  • Hughes ‑ Historic
    (26 miles [41.8 km] to the north)
    • Hughes is located in Victoria County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hughes
  • Point Comfort
    (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northeast)
  • Seadrift
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
  • Sixmile
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Sixmile is located in Calhoun County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sixmile
  • Spanish Village
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
    • Spanish Village is located in Aransas County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spanish Village

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

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

  • Refugio, which is the Seat of Refugio County, lies 26 miles [41.8 km]<2> to the west southwest. If you could walk a straight line from Austwell to Refugio, with an average speed<3> 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 just over a day.
  • Austin, which is the State Capital of Texas, lies 140 miles [225.3 km] to the north northwest (NNW). 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 1,345 miles [2,164.6 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving would take about three full days, a buggy would take 53 days and walking would take 77 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 7,217 miles [11,614.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,938 miles [12,775 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,813 miles [9,355.1 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' (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- Austwell) 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 Austwell 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 Austwell. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 28.3911, Longitude: -96.8437       In this case, the coordinates for Austwell have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 319.324 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 315.201 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 315.082 degrees.