Intrepid Flight Simulator explorer that I am, I embarked on a journey this Summer that delivered me across the virtual country, from sea to shinning sea, in search of the fabled home of The Simpsons.
Kinda silly, I know. I mean, who in the right mind would waste their time flying virtually to all 12 Springfields in the US looking for characteristics and similarities between these Springfields and the one created by Matt Groening. Well, that would be me. I’m gonna fly anyway, might as well give it a theme and purpose.
With the help of my son, a list of Springfields in the US was compiled and formed into some sort of geographical sense. The journey went like this:
Springfield, OR
Springfield, CO
Springfield, ND
Springfield, MN
Springfield, IL
Springfield, MO
Springfield, TN
Springfield, KY
Springfield, OH
Springfield, ME
Springfield, MA
Springfield, GA
Springfield, ND
Springfield, MN
Springfield, IL
Springfield, MO
Springfield, TN
Springfield, KY
Springfield, OH
Springfield, ME
Springfield, MA
Springfield, GA
The flight took about 2 weeks to complete, logging nearly 22 hours in the Katana, As Flight Simmers will realize from the screenshots, there was an evolution of sorts where I installed several add-ons over the course of the journey. My World Landclass, Active Sky X and Graphics X were some of the recommended notables, as is the Katana itself, which proved to be both predictable and interesting to fly cross country.
As for which Springfield is the REAL Springfield – who knows. If I were to guess, based on the population density and topographical variety as depicted in the animated series, I would suggest Illinois or Missouri. The only nuke plant, BTW, was outside of the Ohio Springfield, albeit a ways (see screenshot). Can’t imagine Homer commuting that far. So the search for the real Springfield remains inconclusive. Maybe next year we’ll hit all the Shelbyvilles…
