RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Texas >> Bell County >> Little River-Academy >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Little River-Academy, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Little River-Academy 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 Little River-Academy:
    • 30.984125, -97.352527
    • 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 Little River-Academy
  • 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

Curious and Interesting Names Near Little River-Academy ...

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.

  • Hobbs
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Hobbs have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hobbs
    • Hobbs is located in Bell County
  • Holland
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
  • Joe Lee
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Joe Lee have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Joe Lee
    • Joe Lee is located in Bell County
  • Little River
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
  • Oscar
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Oscar have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oscar
    • Oscar is located in Bell County
  • Rogers
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
  • Sparks
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
  • Stringtown
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Stringtown have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stringtown
    • Stringtown is located in Bell County
  • Temple
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)

How Far From Little River-Academy 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 city such as Little River-Academy to various places of note, such as the White House.

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<3> beginning in Little River-Academy and extending to:

  • Belton, which is the Seat of Bell County, lies just to the Northwest.
  • Austin, which is the State Capital of Texas, lies 54 miles [86.9 km]<3> to the south southwest (SSW). If you could walk a straight line from Little River-Academy to Austin, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take most of three days to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take over two days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 1,269 miles [2,042.3 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take about three full days, a buggy would take 50 days and walking would take 73 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 7,100 miles [11,426.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,831 miles [12,602.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,708 miles [9,186.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>

Footnotes ...

<1>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.
<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' (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- Little River-Academy) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Little River-Academy. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 30.9841, Longitude: -97.3525    
<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 Little River-Academy to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 320.066 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 316.408 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 315.087 degrees.