Freezing rain works up from the south and finds the back roads first — the gravel lanes out toward Pomona and Alto Pass, the long drives that run a quarter mile before they ever see blacktop. Jesse James Tree & Timber Co. plows those, the ones that take time and a heavy blade. The pass that matters most is the last one, the hard pitch where the lane meets the road, scraped down and treated so a vehicle can pull out without sliding. Farm gates, turnarounds and the apron in front of a shop door get opened up too. Out where the nearest truck is a long way off, a cleared lane is the difference between a normal day and no day at all.