On the subject of otr freight rates. It's all a question of the brokers your know. If they do not specialize in Cali freight they are only catching wiffs of the dregs that a broker couldn't even get his cousin to run. There is still good paying freight in and out of Cali for a van/refer. Flatbed: unless you're helping with harvest, you're screwed. It was actually kinda nice for freight out here when all the fools from the Midwest and points east were not coming out because they had descent rates at home cleaning up/rebuilding after the hurricanes last summer.
It's a bigger question of if the non-urban folks can keep the Urban types from screwing up the state much worse from a sociological view. I'm betting they will build a bridge from S.F. to L.A. (as L.A. passes heading North) before the proverbial "big one" happens. Most likely place for an earthquake with significant damage in Cali is the fault that runs up the east side of S.F. bay underneath Oakland and Berkley. That fault has not ruptured since the 1800's and will damage a bunch of infrastructure on that side of the bay when it does. I'd be more worried about the folks on the New Madrid fault........ Japan, Here? You May Live on a Fault Line Contrary to the popular fairy tail Cali has a high probability of not falling into the Pacific.....
California's last concern is the air and water. They take that free water from the north/mountains and let Stewart Resnick claim it all for his crops to grow in a wasteland. Meanwhile entire towns do not have water except for bottled because Resnick won't allow water to go to the citizens of CA.
Resnick? He's part, a major part actually, of what's really wrong with California. Check it out... Stewart Resnick - Wikipedia
California is the best State in the USA, no other state comes close weather or geographical features wise. The best parts of the state have been abandoned by legal citizen and illegal immigration culture has gotten a foothold into the social and legal fabric. Since legal citizens have abandoned the best State in the Union to illegals, this will eventually happen throughout other areas of the country. Illegal citizen culture has traditionally been supported by liberal totalitarianism, which is what you see in large swaths of Cali. (L.A. county) What I an saying is Cali got "bad" because good people did not stay and defend it. Honest, lawful people ran to places like Idaho, and now the good people in Idaho are freezing their assess off. They will eventually flee there to Canada to avoid the problems brought by illegal immigration when it goes to Iowa too. You can't run. You have to fight forget you love.