Chasing A Load

We often get asked if anything interesting happens while we are out and about....well, today I have to say, "YES!" Today began as a typical day in the lives of a truckin team. We were in Williamsport, IA and we received a load offer...they asked us to dead head (drive empty) to Sprigfield, IL and recover a load that was heading to Oklahoma City, OK. It seems the truck that originally had this load had a mishap...the roof blew off their trailer! OK...we don't usually like to drive that far empty (250 miles) for such a short run (550 miles loaded), but we decided to take it. When we arrived at the place to meet the other truck we found out the load was already gone! The people repairing the truck told us that another Panther truck had come at 7:30 this morning and picked it up. Boy were we surprised! And...so was dispatch when we called and told them! They said the other truck had been told NOT to pick up the load because they did not have a lift gate and one was needed to unload it. They had us sit and wait while they tried to contact the other drivers...finally they told us the other truck (or as I like to call them the rougue truck) was not answering thier in truck computer nor their cell phones. So, what does our company tell us to do? Follow them, of course!! Now, mind you, the rougue truck has an 8 hour head start!! The company first said they were going to try to have them stop somewhere along the way to transfer the load to us...but, then they told us to just drive to the consignee and the other truck would be there waiting for us so we could help them unload. They are paying us our full rate to run 550 miles completely empty. I'm thinkin the other drivers are in a bit of hot water! You might wonder what this "hot load" of freight is....
A hospital bed!!
Whew! What a story!