RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Texas >> Howard County >> Otis Chalk >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Otis Chalk, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Otis Chalk 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 Otis Chalk:
    • 32.127903, -101.257341
    • 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 Otis Chalk
  • 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 Howard County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Howard County
    • Since Otis Chalk is near Mitchell County and also Glasscock County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Mitchell County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Glasscock 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 Otis Chalk

Curious and Interesting Names Near Otis Chalk ...

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 Spring
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northwest)
  • Elbow
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
    • Elbow is located in Howard County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elbow
  • Garden City
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southwest)
  • Lees
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
    • Lees is located in Glasscock County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lees
  • Luther
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
    • Luther is located in Howard County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Luther
  • Pecan Crossing
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the east)
    • Pecan Crossing is located in Mitchell County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pecan Crossing
  • Sand Springs
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Sand Springs is located in Howard County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sand Springs
  • Spade
    (18 miles [29 km] to the northeast)
    • Spade is located in Mitchell County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spade

How Far From Otis Chalk 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 Otis Chalk 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<2> community of Otis Chalk once stood, the straight-line distance<3> beginning in Otis Chalk and extending to:

  • Big Spring, which is the Seat of Howard County, lies 15 miles [24.1 km]<3> to the west northwest. If you could walk a straight line from Otis Chalk to Big Spring, with an average speed<4> 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 four to five hours.
  • Austin, which is the State Capital of Texas, lies 244 miles [392.7 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 1,434 miles [2,307.8 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take most of three days, a buggy would take 56 days and walking would take 82 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 7,181 miles [11,556.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,925 miles [12,754.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,811 miles [9,351.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

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>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 Otis Chalk, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<3>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Otis Chalk) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 Otis Chalk 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 Otis Chalk. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 32.1279, Longitude: -101.2573       In this case, the coordinates for Otis Chalk have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 322.902 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 319.902 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 316.764 degrees.