Three in the morning, snow still falling, and the only lights moving on Route 2 are amber. That is the shift — plowing driveways and lots while the storm is still writing itself, then coming back for a second push once it finally quits. Walks get shoveled, steps get cleared, and salt goes where ice forms first: the apron at the street, the shaded side of a garage. In the Rock River valley a system can deliver six wet inches or a foot of powder the wind keeps rearranging, and the route runs either way. Dixon and neighboring Sterling, Rock Falls and Amboy.