RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Texas >> Jones County >> North Abilene >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in North Abilene, we use the following websites to find information relevant to North Abilene 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 North Abilene:
    • 32.544844, -99.769535
    • 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 North Abilene
  • 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 Jones County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Jones County
    • Since North Abilene is near Taylor County and also Callahan County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Taylor County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Callahan 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 North Abilene

Curious and Interesting Names Near North Abilene ...

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.

  • Blair
    (18 miles [29 km] to the southwest)
    • Blair is located in Taylor County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Blair
  • Buffalo Gap
    (18 miles [29 km] to the south)
    • Buffalo Gap is located in Taylor County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Buffalo Gap
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 582 people
  • Caps
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
    • Caps is located in Taylor County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Caps
  • Clyde
    (18 miles [29 km] to the southeast)
    • Clyde is located in Callahan County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clyde
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 3,881 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Clyde <1>
  • Elmdale
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Elmdale is located in Taylor County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elmdale
  • Impact
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Impact is located in Taylor County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Impact
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 31 people
  • Mount Pleasant
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Mount Pleasant is located in Taylor County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mount Pleasant
  • Noodle
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
    • Noodle is located in Jones County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Noodle
  • Phantom Hill
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Phantom Hill is located in Jones County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Phantom Hill
  • View
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)
    • View is located in Taylor County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for View

How Far From North Abilene 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 North Abilene to various places of note, such as the White House.

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<2> beginning in North Abilene and extending to:

  • Anson, which is the Seat of Jones County, lies 16 miles [25.7 km]<2> to the north northwest. If you could walk a straight line from North Abilene to Anson, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take most of a day to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take five to six hours.
  • Austin, which is the State Capital of Texas, lies 197 miles [317 km] to the southeast (SE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take a little over three hours, a buggy would take 8 days and walking would take 12 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 1,343 miles [2,161.3 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take about three full days, a buggy would take 53 days and walking would take 77 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 7,106 miles [11,436 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,847 miles [12,628.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,730 miles [9,221.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<2>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- North Abilene) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<3>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.
<4>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 North Abilene 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 North Abilene. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 32.5448, Longitude: -99.7695       In this case, the coordinates for North Abilene have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 321.928 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 318.799 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 316.038 degrees.