Stranded dad thinks kids are kidnapped

MEMPHIS (NBC) - Most people remember their summer vacations by the places they saw or the people they visited.

However, one Texas father will remember his vacation simply by it being the one where he thought his kids were kidnapped.

The man, who didn't want his name known, said he was left behind on a trip from Texas after stopping on New Brunswick Road to eat and fill up the gas tank near a La Quinta Inn.

"Somebody'd been sleeping all night in the back, and they were going to drive. And I was going get in the back and sleep," he said. "I went inside to get my change for the gas, and they thought I was already loaded up and closed all the doors and took off."

Being left stranded was bad enough, but he also left his cell phone in the van. So he couldn't call and tell the driver to turn around.

Worse still, he said his two young children were in the van.

He ran to the nearby hotel, where the clerks allowed him to use a phone. But 30 minutes later, things only seemed to go from bad to excruciating.

"Six different cell phones and nobody answers, and my phone is in there because it's on the charger. And nobody answers it, and then it starts going straight to voicemail? I mean that's odd," he recounted. "So I started imagining worst-case-possible scenarios, so I called the cops."

The man said he felt more harassed by police than helped once officers made it onto the scene. But, he again credits the employees at the hotel for coming to his rescue with a computer.

"Facebook is actually how I was able to get a hold of somebody and get them to get a hold of somebody so that we could find out what's going on," he said.

The father said the van was about 100 miles away by the time he made contact. And that's when he felt confident that the whole incident was simply a huge mistake.