As I am typing this, Dan is south of Atlanta taking a Starbucks break as he drives home from his road-trip vacation to Indiana and back. Earlier he told me that as he was heading out of Alabama (after visiting with a friend in Birmingham) when a car with a female driver and a male passenger started harassing him on the Interstate. They would pull up very close beside him, and the man had his window down screaming at Dan. Then they would drop dramatically back and then speed up very fast and ride Dan’s bumper. After that aggressive driving, they would then erratically pull back up, scream some more, speed past Dan and then rapidly slow down to 20 miles per hour causing Dan to rapidly break to not hit them. Another effect was that all manner of traffic flying up behind them had to swerve around Dan to not rear-end him. He also said that when they were beside him, they did try to run him off the road a couple of times with a hazardous game of side by side “chicken” making him have to hit the brakes to slow down hard.

After a while, Dan pulled out his phone and started to record. He was very nervous, so you don’t see much, and it appears that when they saw his phone in a recording posture, they stopped their assault.

Thank God Dan’s daughter wasn’t with him (she is staying with family up north a bit longer.)

First of all, thank God, again, that while Dan is rattled, he is fine. He knew they targeted him because of the prominent HRC Equality sticker on the back of Hubert The Handsome Humble Hybrid (my car I let him take for the trip.) There was no other reason for why these strangers on the Interstate chose to target him with their foul language and dangerous, hostile driving.

That’s not all. They anonymously called the police pretending to be a third party witness saying that HE…. my calm, peaceful Dan … had pulled a gun on the alleged car they invented in their imagination and said he was harassing another vehicle! They knew they were being recorded and needed to create a cover story.

When I heard this, I was so mad I was shaking.

Georgia state police pulled Dan over (since he had already crossed state lines) and told him about the call. They asked if there were guns in the car (of course not). All they found was a photo of Dan and I smooching in the passenger seat. The attackers were in a high profile vehicle, maybe they saw our picture? Dan said the police were very kind and understanding. They offered to call the Alabama police over to file a police report of the aggressive driver’s false 911 call. Dan declined.

I would have totally filed the report. :). Dan just wanted to come home. Totally understandable.

When he gets home, I am going to look at everything he caught on his phone to see if there is something worthy of handing off to a lawyer. What he texted me was very grainy and didn’t catch anything but the end of the altercation. I think Dan just wants to let it go.

So, I am working off my adrenaline rush by writing this post! :::laugh:::

Will I take the HRC sticker off my car? Nope. Will I seek to hide photos of Dan and I smooching when not in the privacy of our own home, absolutely not! We are who we are. We love who we love. We have free speech, which covers car window stickers, too! Bigots can try to intimidate, bully, assault and harass us but they will not win. While we won’t be stupid, I will never go back to hiding.

Also, Alabama is a gorgeous state with beautiful people. A few Big Ass Bigots are not going to ruin what I know to be the real beauty of Alabama. That said, I am not the guy that doesn’t call this mess out in the ways that I can. Writing this post is one of them.

I am so proud of Dan for keeping his cool and being a skilled and safe driver; for not taking the bait and returning hatred and rage toward these jerks. Cannot wait till he is all the way home safe and sound.

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P.S. Thanks for all our Facebook friends who are still praying for him as he continues to drive home. He will be in late tonight.