It's much easier to appreciate the dirt roads when you're a tourist. Having grown up on a dirt road in New England, I can say that I'd much rather it were paved.
Hm, I live one a farm in the Swedish countryside where part the road was paved a number of years ago and I can't say I appreciate the "improvement". Cars speed by faster, it is harder on horses' hooves, frost damage is harder to repair. Since it is too hilly here to skate and the pavement type - oil-drenched gravel - is too coarse for it anyway that argument doesn't hold either. I can bike, ride my motorbike and tractor just as well on the gravel so... where's the upside?
As a New England resident, I agree. The dirt roads are nice because it's really hard for cars to exceed 35MPH or so. I find bicycling on dirt roads is actually better than pavement (smoother, better grip) when the roads are well constructed and well taken care of. Except for our annual 2-3 weeks of "peanut butter season."
