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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 Cistern, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Cistern 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 Cistern:
- 29.816435, -97.218514
- 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 Cistern
- 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 Fayette County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- Open the eBird sighting report for Fayette County
- Since Cistern is near Bastrop County and also Gonzales County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- Open the eBird sighting report for Bastrop County
- Open the eBird sighting report for Gonzales 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 Cistern
Curious and Interesting Names Near Cistern ...
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.
- Colony
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
- Colorado
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
- Colorado is located in Bastrop County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Colorado
- Elm Grove
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
- Elm Grove is located in Fayette County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elm Grove
- Flower Hill
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
- Flower Hill is located in Bastrop County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Flower Hill
- Jordan
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
- Jordan is located in Bastrop County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jordan
- Lena
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
- Lena is located in Fayette County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lena
- Pettytown
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the northwest)
- Sandy Fork
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
- String Prairie
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
- String Prairie is located in Bastrop County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for String Prairie
How Far From Cistern 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 Cistern to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<1> beginning in Cistern and extending to:
- La Grange, which is the Seat of Fayette County, lies 21 miles [33.8 km]<1> to the east northeast. If you could walk a straight line from Cistern to La Grange, with an average speed<2> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take just over a day to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take most of a day.
- Austin, which is the State Capital of Texas, lies 44 miles [70.8 km] to the northwest (NW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than an hour, a buggy would take most of two days and walking would take about three full days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 1,306 miles [2,101.8 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving would take about three full days, a buggy would take 51 days and walking would take 75 days.
- The shortest distance<3> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 7,157 miles [11,518.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<4>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,883 miles [12,686.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,759 miles [9,268.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>'
Footnotes ...
| <1> | 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 from Point A (ie- Cistern) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'. |
| <2> | 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. |
| <3> | 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 Cistern 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 Cistern. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 29.8164, Longitude: -97.2185 |
| <4> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 319.801 degrees. |
| <5> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 315.946 degrees. |
| <6> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 315.13 degrees. |
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