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Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Roch, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Roch and the surrounding area.
- 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 Roch:
- 32.024033, -98.455046
- 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 Roch
- 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 Comanche County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- Open the eBird sighting report for Comanche County
- Since Roch is near Erath County and also Eastland County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- Open the eBird sighting report for Erath County
- Open the eBird sighting report for Eastland 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 Roch
Curious and Interesting Names Near Roch ...
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.
- Comanche
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
- Cottonwood
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
- Cottonwood is located in Erath County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cottonwood
- Dublin
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
- Duster
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
- Duster is located in Comanche County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Duster
- Edna Hill
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
- Edna Hill is located in Erath County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Edna Hill
- Energy
(18 miles [29 km] to the south)
- Hazeldell
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
- Hazeldell is located in Comanche County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hazeldell
- Highland
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
- Highland is located in Erath County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Highland
- Stag Creek
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
- Stag Creek is located in Comanche County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stag Creek
How Far From Roch 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 Roch to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<2> beginning in Roch and extending to:
- Comanche, which is the Seat of Comanche County, lies 12 miles [19.3 km]<2> to the southwest. If you could walk a straight line from Roch to Comanche, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take five to six hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take nearly four hours.
- Austin, which is the State Capital of Texas, lies 128 miles [206 km] to the south southeast (SSE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than three hours, a buggy would take 5 days and walking would take 8 days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 1,290 miles [2,076.1 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<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 7,086 miles [11,403.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,822 miles [12,588.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,702 miles [9,176.5 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 things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Roch) 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 Roch 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 Roch. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 32.0240, Longitude: -98.4550 In this case, the coordinates for Roch have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <5> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 320.956 degrees. |
| <6> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 317.587 degrees. |
| <7> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 315.482 degrees. |
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