U gotta remember tho this is the start of the outbreak, Rick was in a coma for thr start so by that time some of the California folks could have made it to Washington DC within that time span.
I doubt it. Rick was only in a coma for about a month or so. With the government still around keeping people locked up and quarantined, it's unlikely people from California made it to Washington in that time.
We finally know exactly when ‘The Walking Dead’ spin-off will take place in relation to the original show
The co creator of the show said this
Our starting points are similar. The first day of our show is around or about the day that Rick was shot and fell into his coma," "Fear the Walking Dead" showrunner and executive producer Dave Erickson told Tech Insider.
Then he said he talked to Robert Kirkman (creator of this along with the original series) and he said this
"Robert has said for him, the coma, Rick was probably out four to five weeks," he continued. "If you count the days of season one of our show, we’re probably around week three [by the end of the season]. So ... the discovery will continue. Our characters will be up to speed, and they will know that the world has changed and the apocalypse has come, but there’s still going to be a lot of real estate to explore."
So seeing as how Rick was out for a month or 5 weeks, and in the 4th episode of FEAR, they already past week 1 and will most likely end the season on week 3 of the outbreak, it's extremely doubtful they will ever meet Rick and that's probably for the best. Let this show establish itself first and be its own thing.
If they ever do meet, let it be a couple of years from now.