Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Best, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Best and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Best
- 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 Best:
- 31.224758, -101.621199
- 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 Best
- 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 Reagan County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Reagan County
- Since Best is near Upton County and also Irion County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Upton County
- eBird sighting report for Irion 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 Best ...
We found seven communities that share the name Best.
Within Texas, the name Best is unique.
Beyond Texas, we know of another seven communities that are located throughout in the United States and Canada. Of these seven communities, six are located in the United States and one is in Canada.
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Alabama
- Mississippi
- New York
- North Carolina
- Ontario
- Pennsylvania
- Allegheny 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 Pennsylvania community of Best [Allegheny County].
- Lehigh County
- We found mention of this community, but have little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Pennsylvania community of Best [Lehigh County].
Curious and Interesting Names Near Best ...
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.
- Big Lake
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Big Lake
- Big Lake is located in Reagan County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 3,348 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Big Lake <3>
- Crossroads
(23 miles [37 km] to the north)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Crossroads have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crossroads
- Crossroads is located in Reagan County
- Flat Rock
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the west) - Sevenmile Corner
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the west)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Sevenmile Corner have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sevenmile Corner
- Sevenmile Corner is located in Upton County
How Far From Best 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 Best 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<5> community of Best once stood, the straight-line distance beginning in Best and extending to:
- Big Lake, which is the Seat of Reagan County, lies 9 miles [14.5 km]<2> to the east southeast. If you could walk a straight line from Best to Big Lake, with an average speed<6> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take four to five hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take a little over three hours.
- Austin, which is the State Capital of Texas, lies 239 miles [384.6 km] to the east southeast (ESE). 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 1,481 miles [2,383.4 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take most of three days, a buggy would take 58 days and walking would take 85 days.
- The shortest distance<7> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 7,244 miles [11,658.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,987 miles [12,853.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,871 miles [9,448.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<10>
Off-the-Road Links ...
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 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 Best 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 '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- Best) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Best. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 31.2248, Longitude: -101.6212 |
| <3> | While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program. |
| <4> | 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. |
| <5> | 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 Best, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |
| <6> | 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. |
| <7> | 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 Best to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 323.016 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 319.931 degrees. |
| <10> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 316.992 degrees. |