Your True Tales
November 2007 - Page 12
Missing Time in Texas
by Johnny
The story I am fixing to relay happened on July 25th, 2007. It wasn't until about a month later that I really started thinking about it in detail for some reason, and started researching for similar experiences on the Internet. I thought I would post it as it might help me to write it out and see if I am missing something that might explain what may indeed be an encounter with a "time rift" of some sort.
I am a 41-year-old businessman; just pretty much your everyday kind of guy and not overly concerned with sci-fi or any type of the paranormal. On this particular date I was traveling from Fort Worth, Texas to my home outside of Austin. About 3:30 p.m. I arrived in Stephenville, Texas as I was to pick up some things from a nursing home that had been left behind by my recently departed mother-in-law. I thought that while I was in the area I would stop by the ranch of a friend of mine's father. I had been to the ranch a few times, but usually with my buddy to hunt. He always drove, so I never paid attention how to get there. I called my buddy and told him I was in the area of his father's ranch and was thinking of stopping by and checking on his dad (as he had just recently lost his wife to cancer). My buddy said that was nice of me to do that and gave me specific directions to the ranch from where I was at the time.
I showed up and my friend's dad was glad to see me. We ended up getting on his John Deere all-terrain vehicle and touring the ranch. He was feeling melancholy as he was about to sell this ranch, and I could tell he wanted to tour me about and tell stories. He poured us each a little vodka drink and off we went. By that time, I'm guessing it was about 5:30 p.m. I planned on staying about 30 minutes and getting on home, which was about two and a half hours away non-stop. We toured about, came back to the ranch house and visited more. I kept trying to leave as I knew I was going to already be in trouble with the wife. I had told her I would be home a round 7:00 p.m. It was already getting dark, so I knew it was probably somewhere near 9:00 p.m. However, our conversations kept pulling me back in.
Finally, long after dark, I left. I had probably had two or three drinks over this four-hour period and I felt like I had drank three times that. I am no stranger to strong drinks and had quite honestly never felt this way. Let's just say I have a pretty high tolerance. I, honestly, shouldn't have gotten in my pick up, but I had an important meeting early the next day and had to get home. Bad call, I know.
Anyway, the road from the ranch to the next significant town is one that winds and twists in many directions. I pulled out of the ranch and called my wife as soon as I got cell phone signal. She was irritated with me for being so late and not calling, and rightly so. I told her that I would just talk to her later and hung up. That is about all I remember of that time. I suddenly found myself in Lampassas, Texas, about an hour away. Although I didn't think much of it at the time, I later realized that I did not remember making the treacherous drive from the ranch to Lampassas. I decided to pull over and eat at a Taco Bell. I remember thinking that I hope it was still open as I knew it at least 11:30 p.m. since I had left at 10:30 p.m. I didn't bother to check my watch. I ate heartily inside the restaurant and got back in the truck.
Suddenly, I was in North Austin; another hour and a half from Lampassas. Problem was, I was on Hwy 183 and was supposed to be on Hwy 281. In the strange state I was in, I had missed my turn, apparently, which is easy to do in Lampassas, and had gone an hour out of my way on the trip to my house. I found a loop I was familiar with and headed back to our little town west of Austin. During this trek I stopped and bought coffee and to top it all off, I was pulled over by a deputy for a missing brake light. Thank God, I was able to hold it together and didn't get a ticket. As a matter of fact, the deputy was one of the nicest fellas I had ever met. I remember feeling so calm with him instead of being panicked like a normal "drunk". He gave me a warning and that was all. All that together, was probably an extra 30 minutes added to my final trek home plus another extra hour I was going to have to drive to get back to my house since I had taken the wrong highway.
I finally made it though. Now I walked into my home and my son and his friend we're up watching a movie. I sat with them for a time and finally ventured back to my computer as I had a couple of emails that I had to send. I found it strange that the boys were up watching a movie as I knew with stops to eat, the deputy stop and coffee and pee stops that it was at least 1:30 a.m. - 2:00 a.m. For some strange reason (once again, very unlike me, I never checked the clock). Now at this point, this just sounds like I guy who had too much to drink and was lucky to make it home without killing himself or others. The problem is: I am not the kind of guy to drive drunk or even drive when I am sleepy. Secondly, I didn't have enough to drink to warrant this type of feeling. Finally, I can honestly tell you that in all of my life, I have NEVER blacked out. Yet I couldn't account for most of two and a half hours of this drive. I simply don't remember making a large part of the drive.
Here's where it gets weird. My buddy, who's father I had visited, told me I called him at 10:30 p.m. that night and told him I was just leaving the ranch. I reported to him on how his dad was doing and hung up. Another buddy said I had left him a "hilarious" message around the same time. I went back to computer and checked my email "sent folder". The emails I sent that night were sent at 12:32 a.m. and 12:48 p.m. I had sent these after sitting with my son and his buddy for at least 20 minutes. This means that I made a drive that (with me taking the wrong highway, stops for food, traffic stops) should have taken at least four hours in about two hours! Even if I hadn't stopped at all and had kept on the right highway, the drive would have taken two and a half hours.
I checked my cell phone records and there are no records of calls made to either one of my buddies on that night as they had stated I did. There are four calls to my wife, however, and I only talked to her once. She was mad at me so I didn't call her back again... I remember that, distinctly.
The questions remain: How did such a small amount of liquor take me to such a strange almost euphoric state? Where did that two to two and half hours go? Who was that nice deputy and why didn't he give me a written warning, as they always do in Texas? How did I contact my two buddies without it showing up on the call log of my phone bill. Finally, last but not least, my debit card billing statement said that I ate at Taco Bell on the 27th (two days later). It has a date that shows when the transaction took place and then usually shows that the transaction "registers" the next day. However, both dates show that I ate in Lampassas on the 27th and it registered on the 27th.
For lack of a better explanation, I either entered some weird time rift (possibly twice) or something safely carried me home over those winding roads that was beyond own doing. Very strange! By the way, my wife still loves me despite my bad behavior that day.
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