VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) – From Venice Beach to Virginia Beach, it’s the end of the road for Chad Caruso.
The skateboarder concludes his 3,000-mile trip across America at the Neptune Monument on Friday, May 19 (tentatively, between 3 p.m. and 5 p.m).
Caruso stepped onto his board and began pushing 57 days ago, ultimately setting a Guinness World Record for fastest crossing of the continent on a manually powered skateboard (for a male).
His arrival precedes the Jackalope Festival, also a sponsor of his massive undertaking, which will bring a whole slew of action sports activities to the Oceanfront from June 2-4. Caruso will be joined by Tony Hawk at that event.
Caruso’s mission with the trip was to highlight addiction recovery and sober living, with 25% of the money raised by his GoFundMe going to Natural High, a youth drug-use prevention organization.
He credits skateboarding for helping to allow him to achieve sobriety himself six years ago.
Caruso told 10 On Your Side’s Steve Fundaro he’s received countless messages from people who were inspired to pursue sobriety by his actions.
Caruso cut no corners on his epic journey. He’s traversed the entire country with at least one foot firmly planted on his grip tape, wheels turning against the endless miles of road, at all times. No walking, no skitching (the act of getting pulled by a car on a skateboard), no free rides.
When WAVY caught up with him outside of South Hill on May 17, Caruso made a point to retrace his steps a few dozen yards to the exact spot he stepped off of his board to meet with us before beginning again.
We watched as he made his way down Highway 47, passing by cows and idyllic pastures while cement trucks and 18-wheelers flew by just feet away.
“There’s been some close calls,” he told us. “Yeah, there’s some pickup trucks that can kind of like scrape pretty close by, but I’ve been skating in New York City like my whole life and stuff. I’m just pretty comfortable in those situations.”
Perhaps the most impressive part of Caruso’s trip is that he’s used the same wheels for the entire journey. What started out as perfectly round 68-mm polyurethane wheels had become so worn down and pockmarked by his last couple days on the road that it was genuinely impressive they could still turn.
“It just happened naturally, I have no idea,” he told us, gesturing to the most destroyed wheel on his board. “It just started chunking, I think from the roads in Texas to be honest.”
As for what’s next, he made it clear he’s just taking things one day at a time.
“This is the biggest thing I’ve ever tried to do in my whole life so I’m not really thinking about the future,” he said. “I’m just trying to be absorbed in this moment and appreciate what’s going on.”
Catch our full story about Caruso’s odyssey, airing on WAVY-TV 10 on June 1.
