The Monday Post: Time Dilation on the 10

So it's been roughly a month since I had to take an 8 hour drive to go see my mother. It wasn't one I was planning on making and I was in a rush to boot. I had a long time to think on this drive, and during this particular run I noticed something odd.

With Interstate 10 before me, I drove and drove (and stopped, usually for gas). I started noticing something, I'm not sure where, about how I saw the road move before me. No, I'm not waxing poetic, though I could. I mean I started noticing that visually the road itself seems to move slower and slower to me as I drove. I kept checking my speedometer, already above what I should have been driving (sorry, but yes that means I was speeding a little), but found that I hadn't changed speeds at all. The best description of the effect is that my mind was telling me the ground was moving much, much slower than I'm sure it was moving. I started calling this, on the way back, a form of mental time dilation. After giving it some more thought I have 3 better theories as to what might have been going on with me.

1. Motion Aftereffect: Ever see that headache inducing spiral. You stare at it for 30 seconds, then look away. Whatever you are looking at then seems to move and undulate, even if it is a flat image. Same, too, I think I could have possibly been seeing something like this. Perhaps at one point the way the road was paved the grooves, for lack of better term, were spaced out different. I can't say the dilation wasn't a constant so I'm not sure if going up and down in speed caused this.
2. Highway Hypnosis: This always scares me. I think when I was little I kept reading or seeing warnings about this as I was growing up. So I typically have loud music, and music that changes, to mitigate this effect. As well as driving breaks, usually for gas/bathroom. So if this was the cause my mind was really, really far off in the distance. Which leads to the next item.
3. My mind was wanting to be further ahead that I was: My mother was less that 24 hours out of her coma, I had been told by her to come see her, and I was driving like a mad man to get there. My desire to be there, or perhaps not getting there fast enough, that made me feel as if I was going too slow. 

In the end, after thinking about it, there might have been a mixture of all three affecting me at the time. It is something to think about on your next long drive; See if you can prove me right or wrong.