John Underhill is quickly becoming a legend of the road. Photo: Courtesy John Underhill//Facebook
On January 18, John Underhill pushed away from Shallotte, North Carolina on his skateboard with an ambitious goal: to skate 3,000 miles across the country to Los Angeles. And after 92 days, he’s still going strong, making it all the way to New Mexico. Underhill has created a large following on social media where he shares updates on his journey, as well as the daunting challenges that have included snowy conditions, 95-degree heat, someone attempting to run him over with their car, and a concussion caused by overexertion.
Underhill posted a video to his fans while in Texas moments after a car swerved off the road and tried to run him over. Since the car was coming from the opposite direction, he was able to dive out of the way and avoid the collision. But his skateboard was not as lucky and got smashed by the vehicle. Underhill got a new board and kept pushing towards California.
Underhill has pushed as much as 41 miles in a day and traveled for 24 hours straight. Other days, he’s had to endure food poisoning while on the road. And on one occasion, he learned that he was pushing his body’s physical limits when he passed out in a hotel room and hit his head on the cement floor, resulting in a concussion.
He’s had to skate in weather ranging from snow to scorching desert heat. And he’s doing it all with a backpack containing just a couple of changes of clothes, a sleeping mat and pad, and some skate tools to maintain his equipment along the way. He’s noted that he purposefully is traveling without cell service to disconnect from the internet, only connecting to wifi along the way as he travels.
Underhill says he’s embarking on this journey to encourage others to follow their dreams.
“I hope this inspires somebody,” Underhill told his 91,000 Instagram followers. “I hope whoever is watching this gets inspired to do that thing. Do the thing that you are scared of. The thing you are putting off. The thing that you think about every day. The thing that eats away at your mind. The thing that no matter how hard you try to escape, you always think about it. Do that thing.”
He isn’t the first to ride a skateboard across the continental U.S. In 2023, Chad Caruso skated from Venice Beach, California to Virginia Beach, Virginia in just 57 days, a Guinness World Record.
But Underhill’s positive energy is absolutely infectious, a refreshing balance to the doom and gloom that often dominates social media feeds. Give him a follow at @john_under.hill to watch him forge ahead to California.
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