MISSOULA, Mont. — The folks at Hi-Noon Petroleum in Montana have a new way to turn a dinosaur into gasoline.
They're offering a $250 gas card for information leading to the safe return of Dino, a 12-foot-long fiberglass Sinclair dinosaur that disappeared June 21 from the Crossroads Travel Center west of Missoula.
Hi-Noon marketing manager Earl Allen says the 6-foot tall dinosaur sat on a hill overlooking Interstate 90 for at least five years.
Allen says taking the prehistoric icon would have been a bit of a project, since it wouldn't fit in the back of a pickup.
Anyone with information on Dino's whereabouts is asked to call Hi-Noon.
Here’s the official company plea:
“Please be on the lookout for a large Dino that apparently ‘walked away’ from his spot on the hill overlooking Interstate 90 at the Crossroads Travel Center west of Missoula. He has been missing since the morning of June 21st and has not returned home, nor have any ransom demands been received. Dino is fiberglass and green in color. He stands approximately 6 feet tall and is 12 feet long. If you have any information or know of his current whereabouts, please contact the Hi-Noon office at 406-532-0384. This iconic Dino means a lot to the Hi-Noon family and we are offering a $250 Noon’s gas card for his speedy recovery.”
The Missoulian newspaper in Missoula, Mont. adds:
And for you history buffs, Sinclair’s trademark dinosaur made its debut at the Chicago World’s Fair in 1934 when Sinclair sponsored a dinosaur exhibit to point out the correlation between the formation of petroleum deposits and the age of dinosaurs.