> Had to match carefully speed and merge the car in a space I wouldn't have used for parking.

> needing to save those ...five minutes

So you wouldn't have parked there but you have no problem squeezing between two moving objects 10x your weight/inertia at highway speed? All so you can take an exit (that you were inexplicably in the left lane when you realized you needed it) rather than just take an extra five minutes and turn around at the next exit?

Hard to imagine why he blew his horn.

The lorry driver was in the wrong he was driving with an illegally small space between him and the vehicle in front.

I'm not disputing that. I'm disputing the intelligence of looking at a spot barely big enough for your car that is moving at highway speeds and sandwiching yourself between two vehicles, either one of which could kill you with inertia alone, and then wondering why you might get honked at for it.

not every state has 5 minutes between exit luxury highways

So? Distance between exits doesn't change the fact that what he did was reckless and dangerous.