When Cate and I were at the State Fair (see State Fair 1) we

visited Conservation World to see the Celebrating the 

Environment Tent, which was a new (to me) environmental 

displaythat included Springfield Based groups. While 

there I was shown a Lexus hybrid car and told a pretty cool

story about how it came to be there. I did not have time to

 get the details and forgot to take pictures so I was waiting

 until I could get accurate info before I posted it.

First: The CAR

It is a Lexus Hybrid, 4 Door Sedan/Coupe which costs $61 K, 

and was provided by Lexus of Peoria. At the high end of its 

gasoline performance it gets 28 miles to the gallon, not

bad for a sports car. The car runs on electricity at low

speeds and gas at high speeds. (see www.lexusofpeoria.com)

The car was offered to them courtesy of Wally Miles, Sales

Manager, at Lexus of Peoria, 7301 N. Allen Rd, Peoria, IL 61614.

But then there is the obvious ????. Peoria? 

Catherine O'Connor told me that she called every car dealer in

Springfield to see if they would loan her a car. They all said 

no!(boo hissssss) So she took a creative leap and called dealers

in other cities. When she got a hold of Wally Miles

                (http://wally_miles@lexusofpeoria.com) 

whom she had NOT MET before, he said he would get her a car! She

said that what she did not know until later was that Mr. Miles

had to BUY the car because there is a waiting list!! He had the

car delivered to her by courier and again, he had only spoken 

to her on the telephone…a $60,000 car. WHOA.

The thank you letter from the Sierra Club in part reads:

"Thank you so much for generously supplying a new Lexus 

hybrid vehicle for the 'Celebrating the Environment' display

at the 2008 Illinois State Fair.  We are proud that the Sierra

Club has teamed up with a coalition of local environmental 

groups and community leaders to help raise awareness of the 

biggest single step that American consumers can take to curb

global warming and help reduce their dependence on 

non-renewable fuel sources." 

Anybody want to buy a car? CALL Wally! Thank you Mr. Miles.