Real Life Twilight Zone?! <-- True Story

I have ONLY shared this story with less-than-a-handful of people, but what the heck…

July 2nd 2009: Me and roommate, Zack, depart Seattle, WA in his Toyota Corolla toward our destination of Greensboro, NC.

We are in the thick of the sticks, nearing time zone change -- from Pacific to Mountain –near Idaho & Montana. The roads are squiggled through mountains and, at night, very VERY dark and eery. In fact, I mentioned while driving, “feels like we’re in some sorta twilight zone here, huh?!”

A look at our map and google map printout showed that everything was peachy and we were right on time toward our travel goals. At one point, before it got really dark, we stopped at this gas station at the bottom of a big mountain. We asked the cashier for any advice or suggestions as we went ahead. She gave us VERY accurate time/distance landmarks (about 7 minutes ahead you’ll pass a McDonald’s…21 minutes later you’ll change time, 32 miles after that you’ll find..). Sure enough, Mickey D’s after 7 mins, then at the time change – MY phone went two hours ahead, Zack’s didn’t move. Few minutes later, my phone goes back two hours…Zack’s phone now is at the “right” time, after adding an hour. Then, after about a half hour, MY phone finally goes “right” and syncs to his. When we reached 32 miles after the landmark the cashier lady mentioned, we pulled over to indulge in some civilization – gas, potty, stretch, snack.

Here’s the mindf#@k part: when we looked again to check the time, we were THREE HOURS behind our scheduled time! What?! I got out a map…looked at our phones…looked at clocks all around us…asked directions…sure e-freaking-nuff, somehow we lost THREE HOURS. We had to call and cancel hotel reservations we’d made at the city we were SUPPOSED to be at and, NOT TO THIS DAY, have ever figured out what the hell happened. Before it’s suggested – no drugs, no hallucinogens, etc.

Something funky happened in the mountains of Montana. Anybody got any suggestions, comments or similar stories that may help make heads or tails of this one?