On any given day, up to half a million trucks criss-cross America to people fresh food at the peak of ripeness. Often, that food comes from thousands of miles away, shipped through trucks and warehouses to arrive exactly when customers are most likely to buy them. That’s the foundation of the most advanced food distribution system in the world.

To see it at work, we committed to follow a truck coast to coast. We watched a shipment of strawberries being loaded in Watsonville, California, and stayed on its tail until Landover, Maryland. In all, 3,200 miles over three days.

The berries are charismatic, but the real heroes of food distribution are the people who make it happen. The drivers of the truck we