Three in the morning at the crossing of I-57 and I-64, the lots stand empty and the wind has nowhere to hide. CMC PowerSweeping is already at it — blade down, headlights swinging across acres of pavement, pushing the night's snow into banks at the far curb before the first shift arrives. Storms here often come in as sleet and set up hard by dawn, so treatment goes down behind the plow and the entrances get opened wide. The pride is in a lot nobody thinks twice about: dark asphalt, visible striping, doors reachable at six a.m. Winter in this part of Illinois rewards whoever is awake first.