Chad Caruso skated from sea to shining sea.
He recently completed a 3,000-mile cross-country trip atop his skateboard, which carried him on a 57-day ride from the Pacific Ocean in Venice Beach, Calif. to the Atlantic Ocean in Virginia Beach, Va.
Caruso, a New York resident who organized the journey to raise money for addiction awareness, now holds the Guinness World Record for the fastest crossing of America on a manually powered skateboard for a male.
And the skateboard held up from coast to coast. Caruso, however, did need to replace his shoes mid-trip.
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"To me, this thing was a bigger success than I could have ever imagined," Caruso said while documenting the trip on his YouTube channel. "Right on track. Couple of roads here and there, a couple of mishaps, but nothing really happened. Everything went smooth. I packed just what I needed. All of it just went really smooth. Couldn't have asked for a better trip."
Caruso launched a Go Fund Me campaign on Feb. 6, announcing that he was "skateboarding 3,000 miles across the U.S." He has nearly reached his goal of $50,000, with 25 percent of the money raised being donated to Natural High, a drug prevention nonprofit organization that helps youth find a passion and develop skills.
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Caruso credits skateboarding for his sobriety.
"I have been sober for six years now and doing so has completely changed my life for the better," Caruso wrote on Go Fund Me. "I wouldn’t have been able to attempt this skate across the country without the energy and focus that sobriety has given me. The goal of this fundraiser is to highlight the importance of having something passionate in your life to focus on."
Caruso began the trip on March 24 after flying to California and completed it on May 19 at Neptune Park in Virginia, where he was greeted by a crowd. He capped the trip by picking up his skateboard, running across the beach and jumping fully clothed into the Atlantic Ocean.
"In the beginning...I didn’t know what to expect, there were so many challenges to face," Caruso told reporters. "But once I started going, I was in the zone. It felt like second nature after that."
