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FC Hits The Road

The Caviar Desk · April 23, 2026 · 3 min read

Happy Thursday.

For the last three weeks, CEO Paul & Videographer Darek traded their office desks for a truck stop in Birmingham, a bar in Chattanooga, and a conference hall in Phoenix, all in service of Issue No. 3 and the next FreightCaviar film.

Here's what the team has been cookin' up at FreightCaviar.

📍 Chicago/Elk Grove Village – Quick Start

The trip started in Chicagoland, including a stop in Elk Grove Village, one of the most freight-dense zip codes in the country and home to more dispatchers, brokers, and carrier ops teams than most people realize.

Paul sat down with Pavel Botev, CEO of Sunbelt Drayage, to discuss what's really driving freight fraud. You can catch the podcast from that conversation here.

📍 Chattanooga – Freight Alley Launch Party

Paul got to Chattanooga on April 9. The next night, FreightCaviar Print Issue No. 2 dropped at Home Bar on Market Street, alongside the exclusive premiere of the Freight Alley film.

We got to meet a lot of our sponsors and people who've been reading the newsletter since day one.

Highway posted it best: "FreightCaviar brought the industry together."

📍 The Road – April 11-14

Chattanooga → Birmingham → Dallas → Midland → El Paso

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📍 Phoenix/TIA — April 15–18

The Transportation Intermediaries Association Capital Ideas Conference. The energy in the room was different this year: brokers who spent the last two years grinding through the worst market in recent memory were finally coming up for air.

Rates tightening. Rejections climbing. The slump isn't over, but the mood has shifted.

📍 Chicago + Kansas City – April 18-23

Back in Chicago for the final stretch. The team is still filming extensively and conducting interviews, but did squeeze in another event on the 22nd, sponsored by getdrivers.ai.

Next stop is Kansas City, a city that doesn't get talked about enough. We'll be exploring the rail history, CPKC rail presence, and getting the real talk on the proposed $85 billion merger between Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern.

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