Best of Tour Most Incredibly Beautiful Road (East) Award -- East Nabobish Road, Michigan

The Michigan section of the Tour was full of pleasant surprises, but the most delightful, in our view, was a section the route east of Bay City, just south of Saginaw Bay.  Perhaps it was the afterglow of an usually hot and humid day, perhaps sheer relief after the navigation difficulties we had of getting through the congested urban area that led us to feel that the flat, straight section of road through the quiet farmland was a slice of heaven.  Like the BIA Route 1 in Montana (winner of the Best of Tour MIBRA West Award), East Nebobish Road takes the weary rider a few decades back in time.  If you are lucky enough to be blessed with a northwest wind, you will also experience a cooling breeze from Lake Huron, but even if not this virtually deserted farm road abuts what seems to be a very old canal cut through tangled vegetation and separating fields of cultivated land.  There are no stores, no gas stations, not even a post office for at least 25 miles from the point this photo was taken, only the canal, the breeze and the road. It was eerily quiet and incredibly beautiful.

East Nebobish Road, between Bay City and Fair Grove, Michigan

Best of Tour Most Incredibly Beautiful Road (West) Award --BIA 1, Montana

Looking back over our trip photos and remembering all the incredibly beautiful roads we have been able to travel, it became more and more impossible to select just one for the prize. After hours of deliberation, we decided to split the Most Incredibly Beautiful Road Award (MIBRA) into two categories: east and west of the Mississippi River.

With the note that this award is ENTIRELY SUBJECTIVE and has a lot to do with the weather and how we were feeling on particular days, the 2010 Rolling Home Tour MIBRA West goes to:

MIBRA West: BIA Rte 1 (Indian Road) Fort Peck Indian Reservation (between Nashua and Oswego, Montana) This road is more than another gorgeously scenic route along the Northern Tier; it takes you back on a spiritual journey at least half a century to experience the way the prairie must have felt before the age of fences, megafarms,
semis, Bud Lite and electronic casino games.
of the oncoming traffic here.

Heading East toward Malta on BIA 1

Fearless Turtle on BIA Route 1

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