I had been driving on the fwy at high noon for about 20 min or so and glanced at my temp
guage and noticed the needle had not even moved as if the car were off and I freaked and turned
off the a/c and slowed down but kept going all the way home w/o incident

any ideas what happend? Is it bad to keep driving this way, cuz I dunno if I can take my
car to the dealer for the next few days and don't have a spare car or anything.

 

Just make sure your coolant level is normal, and that after running for a few minutes (5+ minutes) the radiator gets hot. That will show you the cooling system is still working and your water pump is still pumping.

It is probably a bad temp. sensor, and I think they are fairly easy to replace.