Jeez I feel like an idiot. I checked all the fuses when the car crapped out and they all looked good. However once I started looking closer I found that the fuse that protects the gauges was faulty and had failed near the end. SO the gauges now work. Now I need to figure what happened to the headlights!!!

Thanks for all the help

Pull ALL the fuses out, and check them with a Ohm-meter. "Looks good" does mean squat. (see post #12) Most of us have at one time or another been fooled by the "looks good" issue.