Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Ridout, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Ridout and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Ridout
- 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 Ridout:
- 29.082469, -98.141397
- 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 Ridout
- 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 Wilson County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Wilson County
- Since Ridout is near Karnes County and also Atascosa County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Karnes County
- eBird sighting report for Atascosa 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:
- Waymark.com
Communities Also Named Ridout ...
We found one communities that share the name Ridout.
Within Texas, the name Ridout is unique.
Beyond Texas, there is another community also named Ridout in Canada.
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
Curious and Interesting Names Near Ridout ...
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.
- Falls City
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Falls City
- Falls City is located in Karnes County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 706 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Falls City <2>
- Gray Crossing
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Gray Crossing have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gray Crossing
- Gray Crossing is located in Wilson County
- Graytown
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the northwest)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Graytown
- Graytown is located in Wilson County
- Mays Crossing
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Mays Crossing have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mays Crossing
- Mays Crossing is located in Karnes County
- Stockdale
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stockdale
- Stockdale is located in Wilson County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 1,672 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Stockdale <2>
- Sunnyside
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sunnyside
- Sunnyside is located in Wilson County
- Three Oaks ‑ Historic
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Three Oaks
- Three Oaks is located in Wilson County
- Unity ‑ Historic
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
How Far From Ridout 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 Ridout 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<4> community of Ridout once stood, the straight-line distance<5> beginning in Ridout and extending to:
- Floresville, which is the Seat of Wilson County, lies just to the North Northwest.
- Austin, which is the State Capital of Texas, lies 85 miles [136.8 km]<5> to the north northeast (NNE). If you could drive a straight line from Ridout to Austin, with an average speed<6>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take less than two hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 5 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take most of three days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 1,380 miles [2,220.9 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving would take about three full days, a buggy would take 54 days and walking would take 79 days.
- The shortest distance<7> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 7,231 miles [11,637.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,958 miles [12,807.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,834 miles [9,388.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<10>
Off-the-Road Links ...
The official website for State of Texas: https://texas.gov/
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 Bird Creek to see Pete ... Bird 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 Ridout 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> | While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program. |
| <3> | 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. |
| <4> | 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 Ridout, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |
| <5> | 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 drawn from Point A (ie- Ridout) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Ridout. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 29.0825, Longitude: -98.1414 In this case, the coordinates for Ridout have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <6> | 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. |
| <7> | 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 Ridout to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 320.291 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 316.433 degrees. |
| <10> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 315.578 degrees. |