Arthur may be out looking for the next best roller coaster, and this blog has been discontinued. Thanks for visiting and happy travels!

If you're like me, you're seriously thinking about a hybrid for your next car. And, if you're like me, the last place on earth you'd want to spend any time is at a car dealership. (Frankly, I hope you're not any more like me, because the similarities are starting to freak me out.) How, then, can dealer-phobic folks like us get a better sense of newfangled hybrid automobiles? We could pester the neighbor who recently jumped on the green bandwagon and try to weasel our way behind the wheel of his shiny new hybrid. A better alternative, however, might be a visit to Toyota's Highway to the Future, a touring "mobile hybrid experience," when it stops in Boston or Newburyport.

Visitors will be able to take a simulated ride in a virtual Prius without an annoying salesperson asking them, "So, what would it take to get you to buy this today?" They'll also be able to learn about alternative fuels and hybrid technology, including regenerative braking, through interactive presentations. A section of the exhibit will focus on ways people can make a difference to help protect the environment.

Ironically, the mobile hybrid experience is traveling across the nation on a semi-trailer truck that probably gets, oh, around .3 miles per gallon. To atone for the tour's carbon impact, Toyota says that it plans to plant up to 50,000 trees. The auto company has certainly taken the lead in hybrid car sales with its popular Prius, as well as the new Camry and Highlander hybrid models. But Toyota, which professes to be "committed to confronting the world's energy challenges and making the planet a healthier place to live," would have to plant an awful lot of trees to offset the environmental impact of its elephantine Land Cruiser and Sequoia models (13 and 15 mpg city, respectively).

Highway to the Future
Friday June, 29 through Wednesday, July 4 at City Hall Plaza in Boston, part of Boston Harborfest
Saturday, July 7 at Waterfront Park in Newburyport, part of Riverfront Music Festival

Photo: Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A.