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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Colorado, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Colorado 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 Colorado:
    • 29.985777, -97.134154
    • 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 Colorado
  • 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 Bastrop County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Bastrop County
    • Since Colorado is near Fayette County and also Lee County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Fayette County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Lee 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 Colorado

Communities Also Named Colorado ...

We found seven communities that are also named Colorado.

There is one other community in Texas that is also named Colorado.

Beyond Texas, we know of six communities that are located in the United States.

  • Communities Located In Texas ...
    • Mitchell 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 Texas community of Colorado [Mitchell County].
  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Alaska
      • This Colorado lies 3,228 miles [5,195 km]<2> to the north northwest of the Colorado that is located in Bastrop County.
    • California
      • Imperial 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 California community of Colorado [Imperial County].
    • Illinois
      • Pope 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 Illinois community of Colorado [Pope County].
    • Kansas
      • Lincoln 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 Kansas community of Colorado [Lincoln County].
    • Pennsylvania
      • Schuylkill 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 Colorado [Schuylkill County].
    • Utah
      • Salt Lake County
      • This Colorado is located in Salt Lake County and lies 1,114 miles [1,792.8 km]<2> to the northwest of the Colorado that is located in Bastrop County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Salt Lake County community of Colorado.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Colorado ...

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.

  • Cistern
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Cistern is located in Fayette County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cistern
    • Former names for Cistern:
    • Cockrell's Hill
    • Milton
    • Whiteside's Prairie
  • Clearview
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
    • Clearview is located in Bastrop County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clearview
  • Flower Hill
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Flower Hill is located in Bastrop County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Flower Hill
  • Grassyville
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
    • Grassyville is located in Bastrop County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grassyville
  • Hills Prairie
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Hills Prairie is located in Bastrop County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hills Prairie
  • Jordan
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
    • Jordan is located in Bastrop County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jordan
  • Lena
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Lena is located in Fayette County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lena
  • Plum
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
  • Prairie Valley
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
    • Prairie Valley is located in Fayette County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Prairie Valley

How Far From Colorado to ...

We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers, Almanacs & Directories that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a community such as Colorado to various places of note, such as the White House.

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Colorado and extending to:

  • Bastrop, which is the Seat of Bastrop County, lies 13 miles [20.9 km]<2> to the northwest. If you could walk a straight line from Colorado to Bastrop, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take 6 hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take four to five hours.
  • Austin, which is the State Capital of Texas, lies 41 miles [66 km] to the west northwest (WNW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than an hour, a buggy would take just about two full days and walking would take about three full days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 1,295 miles [2,084.1 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take about three full days, a buggy would take 51 days and walking would take 74 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 7,144 miles [11,497.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,871 miles [12,667.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,747 miles [9,248.9 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 Rock Creek to see Pete ... Rock 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 Colorado 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' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Colorado) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<3>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<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 Colorado 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 Colorado. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 29.9858, Longitude: -97.1342       In this case, the coordinates for Colorado have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 319.771 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 315.934 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 315.08 degrees.