Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Balm, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Balm and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Balm
- 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 Balm:
- 33.746772, -96.976674
- 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 Balm
- 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 Cooke County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Cooke County
- Since Balm is near Grayson County and also Love County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Grayson County
- eBird sighting report for Love 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
Communities Also Named Balm ...
We found five communities that share the name Balm.
Within Texas, the name Balm is unique.
Beyond Texas, we know of another five communities that are located throughout in the United States.
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Alabama
- Florida
- Missouri
- North Carolina
- Pennsylvania
Curious and Interesting Names Near Balm ...
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.
- Cook
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest) - Dixie
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dixie
- Dixie is located in Grayson County
- Fobb
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast) - Gage
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the east) - Gordonville
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gordonville
- Gordonville is located in Grayson County
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Gordonville <4>
- Hanger
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the east) - Lake Kiowa
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Lake Kiowa have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lake Kiowa
- Lake Kiowa is located in Cooke County
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Lake Kiowa <4>
- Locust
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Locust
- Locust is located in Grayson County
- Red Branch
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Red Branch have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Red Branch
- Red Branch is located in Grayson County
- Shady Grove
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Shady Grove have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shady Grove
- Shady Grove is located in Cooke County
- Sturgeon
(Less than 2 miles to the north) - Thackerville
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Thackerville have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Thackerville
- Thackerville is located in Love County (OK)
- Population from the 2020 Census: 521 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Thackerville <4>
- Walnut Bend
(5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Walnut Bend have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Walnut Bend
- Walnut Bend is located in Cooke County
- Willow Spring
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Willow Spring have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Willow Spring
- Willow Spring is located in Grayson County
How Far From Balm 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 community such as Balm to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Balm and extending to:
- Gainesville, which is the Seat of Cooke County, lies 12 miles [19.3 km]<2> to the southwest. If you could walk a straight line from Balm to Gainesville, with an average speed<5> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take five to six hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take nearly four hours.
- Austin, which is the State Capital of Texas, lies 244 miles [392.7 km] to the south (S). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take nearly four hours, a buggy would take 10 days and walking would take 14 days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 1,162 miles [1,870.1 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take about three full days, a buggy would take 46 days and walking would take 66 days.
- The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,940 miles [11,168.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,677 miles [12,354.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,558 miles [8,944.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
Off-the-Road Links ...
Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Balm. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.
The official website for Cooke County: www.co.cooke.tx.us/
The official website for State of Texas: https://texas.gov/
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 Balm 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> | Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Balm) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Balm. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 33.7468, Longitude: -96.9767 In this case, the coordinates for Balm have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <3> | 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. |
| <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 Balm 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 320.18 degrees. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 316.89 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 314.629 degrees. |