Waynesville – Last month, Greg Moore and his dog, Carhart, rode a side-by-side across North Carolina.
Many times when North Carolina natives talk about the length of the state, they often use the phrase “Murphy to Manteo” and in fact, the state has a road sign in Murphy declaring the distance to Manteo, and in Manteo, they have a sign declaring the distance to Murphy.
“While North Carolina’s new UTV laws limit the roads you can ride on, with a little planning you can weave your way further than you might think,” Moore said.
Relative to surrounding states, UTV riders consider N.C. laws to be reasonable.
“These machines are great for farmers as they will go just about anywhere, and if you make them street legal, you may be able to run by the grocery store after checking your crops,” Moore said. “Heck, I use mine to run to Chic-fil-A, get groceries and grab some diesel for my tractor. But on this trip I saw how conducive my UTV was for sightseeing given the great visibility from every seat. Our state’s Department of Tourism should really promote UTV vacations.”
Moore and his cousin, Rick, used Google Earth to scout backroads zooming in with Street View to look for speed limit signs, which is a major component of the regulations. Another key component of the regulation is the number of lanes, with two-lane roads offering many more opportunities for UTV riders.
“I traveled the Blue Ridge Parkway as far as I could since it is two lanes and 45 mph or less, which makes the Parkway legal for UTVs. I ran into a Parkway closure near Boone and had to get the phone out and get creative with Google Earth.” Moore said.
When asked why he did this ride, Moore said he doubted if the ride had been attempted in a side-by-side since the law was so new, so why not try. He had just retired from Farm Credit, and he had some time before he started working at Keller Williams – Great Smokies, so it was just a matter of waiting for a string of days with favorable weather.
With regard to the “World Record” language on his sign, Moore said that was a tongue-in-cheek comment to hopefully gain favor with hotels in hopes they might allow him to park under the front carport … unfortunately that strategy didn’t work.
Details: For detailed photos, videos and trip maps, visit gmoore.org and click on the “Murphy to Manteo” link.