RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Washington >> Adams County >> Packard >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Packard, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Packard 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 Packard:
    • 47.214870, -118.494150
    • 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 Packard
  • 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 Adams County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Adams County
    • Since Packard is near Lincoln County and also Grant County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Lincoln County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Grant 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 Packard

Communities Also Named Packard ...

We found eight communities that are also named Packard.

Within Washington, the name Packard is unique.

Beyond Washington, we know of eight communities that are located in the United States.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Iowa
      • Butler County
      • This Packard is located in Butler County and lies 1,286 miles [2,069.6 km]<1> to the east of the Packard that is located in Adams County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Butler County community of Packard.
    • Kentucky
      • Whitley County
      • This Packard is located in Whitley County and lies 1,893 miles [3,046.5 km]<1> to the east of the Packard that is located in Adams County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Whitley County community of Packard.
    • Michigan
      • Eaton County
      • This Packard is located in Eaton County and lies 1,671 miles [2,689.2 km]<1> to the east of the Packard that is located in Adams County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Eaton County community of Packard.
      • Lenawee County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<2> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Michigan community of Packard [Lenawee County].
      • Van Buren County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Michigan community of Packard [Van Buren County].
    • Missouri
      • Hickory County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<2> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Missouri community of Packard [Hickory County].
    • Nevada
      • Pershing County
      • This community is historic<3> and although located in Pershing County, we don't know where within the county.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Pershing County community of Packard.
    • Wisconsin
      • Marinette County
      • This Packard is located in Marinette County and lies 1,465 miles [2,357.7 km]<1> to the east of the Packard that is located in Adams County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Marinette County community of Packard.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Packard ...

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.

  • Downs
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
    • Downs is located in Lincoln County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Downs
  • Earl
    (23 miles [37 km] to the north)
    • Earl is located in Lincoln County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Earl
  • Hillcrest
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Hillcrest is located in Adams County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hillcrest
  • Keystone
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)
    • Keystone is located in Adams County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Keystone
  • Moody
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
    • Moody is located in Adams County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Moody
  • Nemo
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Nemo is located in Lincoln County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Nemo
  • Palm Lake
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the east)
    • Palm Lake is located in Adams County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Palm Lake
  • Providence
    (23 miles [37 km] to the southwest)
    • Providence is located in Adams County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Providence

How Far From Packard 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 Packard 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 community of Packard once stood, the straight-line distance beginning in Packard and extending to:

  • Ritzville, which is the Seat of Adams County, lies just to the Southeast.
  • Olympia, which is the State Capital of Washington, lies 207 miles [333.1 km]<1> to the west (W). If you could drive a straight line from Packard to Olympia, with an average speed<4>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take a little over three hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 12 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 8 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 2,141 miles [3,445.6 km] to the east (E). Driving would take 5 days, a buggy would take 84 days and walking would take 122 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,735 miles [10,838.9 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,501 miles [12,071.7 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,583 miles [8,985 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<8>'

Footnotes ...

<1>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 from Point A (ie- Packard) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<2>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 Rock Creek to see Pete ... Rock 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 Packard 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.
<3>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 Packard, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<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 Packard 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 Packard. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 47.2149, Longitude: -118.4942       In this case, the coordinates for Packard have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 337.695 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 338.72 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 325.292 degrees.