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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 Ballinger, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Ballinger 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 Ballinger:
- 31.740679, -99.948014
- 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 Ballinger
- 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 Runnels County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- Open the eBird sighting report for Runnels County
- Since Ballinger is near Concho County and also Coleman County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- Open the eBird sighting report for Concho County
- Open the eBird sighting report for Coleman 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 Ballinger
Communities Also Named Ballinger ...
We found one communities that are also named Ballinger.
Within Texas, the name Ballinger is unique.
Beyond Texas, there is another community also named Ballinger in the United States.
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Iowa
- Lee 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 Iowa community of Ballinger [Lee County].
Curious and Interesting Names Near Ballinger ...
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.
- Crews
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
- Crews is located in Runnels County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crews
- Glen Cove
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the northeast)
- Harriet
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
- Harriet is located in Tom Green County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harriet
- Marie
(18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
- Marie is located in Runnels County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Marie
- Miles
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the southwest)
- Novice
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the northeast)
- Paint Rock
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)
- Seventeen Mile Crossing
(18 miles [29 km] to the southwest)
- Sixteen Mile Crossing
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the southwest)
- Sixteen Mile Crossing is located in Tom Green County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sixteen Mile Crossing
How Far From Ballinger 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 city such as Ballinger to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<3> beginning in Ballinger and extending to:
- Austin, which is the State Capital of Texas, lies 165 miles [265.5 km]<3> to the southeast (SE). If you could drive a straight line from Ballinger to Austin, with an average speed<4>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take about three hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 10 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 7 days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 1,377 miles [2,216.1 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take about three full days, a buggy would take 54 days and walking would take 79 days.
- The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 7,156 miles [11,516.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,895 miles [12,705.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,777 miles [9,297.2 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 Bird Creek to see Pete ... Bird Creek 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 Ballinger 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> | While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program. |
| <3> | 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- Ballinger) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'. |
| <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 Ballinger 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 Ballinger. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 31.7407, Longitude: -99.9480 |
| <6> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 321.934 degrees. |
| <7> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 318.709 degrees. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 316.185 degrees. |
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