On our way to Santa Fe, on the outskirts, stuck in a traffic jam so bad they’ve closed the freeway, all three lanes of traffic being routed off the exit ramp in the distance to crawl along the access road until the next opportunity to return. We’re in the center lane. All three lanes barely moving, but the merge not happening until the police officers directing traffic right at the ramp. As we get closer, still barely creeping, another RV pulls next to us in the right lane. He opens his window, and invites us to merge ahead of him. We’re sixty feet; not that easy to change lanes without help, so we thank him profusely, and over the course of the next several minutes, manage to get our full length ahead of him and merge into the empty space. What a nice guy! He didn’t have to do that.
Time marches on.
This man should be rewarded beyond our measly thanks and light blinking recognition…. and he was! The universe is just and fair. His reward? Because he volunteered to wait just a little longer and let us go first, he didn’t have to be the last vehicle diverted onto the exit ramp. Somebody had to be last, and it wasn’t him….. it was us. Just as we passed the point of no return, the police pulled aside the barricades and reopened the southbound freeway.
He waved as he went past.
