the asshole in the suv

This is a story that doesn't show us at our best, but I just can't get over it!!

Yesterday the fan in our car broke, it was fine if we were chugging right along but if we had to make frequent stops then the engine would heat up.

We were heading 1.5 hours north on the interstate, we had to get to a function and didn't foresee any issues with the fan as there were minimal stops involved. On the interstate there was an accident and cars were bumper-to-bumper. We started out being 1 mile away from the nearest exit, 1/2 mile later the needle started showing us that the engine was getting hot. Ugh! We were pretty tense.

We were at a standstill, we didn't know what to do. We could either pull into the breakdown lane and sit there, or we could pull into the breakdown lane and zip up 1/2 mile to the exit so that the fan could cool the car down. We chose the latter.

This is not something we would ever normally do! Ever! But it was an emergency situation, we put the hazards on and started to book it, until we got stopped by this SUV who was half in the lane, half in our way. We were like 'What's this person doing?' We tried yelling that we were overheating and that we needed to get by, but that didn't work. Behind us in the breakdown lane came a state utilty vehicle and my heart was in my throat because I didn't know what we were going to do until it just hopped on the terrain and zipped right past us. As it did, the SUV got out of the way and we were like "YES!" until it got right back in front of us again. We didn't get it. What was this person doing??? We started to think that they were playing Deputy of the Road not letting us pass while our car was seriously heating up! Stress!

Not long after that a college kid in a late model sedan pulled entirely around us onto the bank and then zipped back onto the pavement and up to the exit. We could see the SUV driver flash a ticked off "See-ya!" wave so then we KNEW that this person was just trying to keep us back, to "maintain order and fairness" in the traffic. But the fact is, this person just assumed we were trying to cut and it makes me so mad!!!!! We had a legitimate emergency situation, what if I was having a baby or a heart attack or something or an injured toddler. !!!!!!! So after seeing the non-4wd car pull entirely around us my DH got the confidence to pull around the SUV so we could get our car into safety.

I guess the moral of the story is to make sure your engine fan works properly, but the second moral is BUTT OUT!!! IT'S NOT YOUR PERSONAL INTERSTATE AND YOU DON'T ALWAYS KNOW WHAT'S GOING ON IN THE CAR WITH ITS HAZARD LIGHTS ON. Ughhh....I'm still so mad!