East of town, Clear Lake Avenue runs out toward the Sangamon bottoms where the fog sits low and the cold arrives early. Clear Lake Township clears snow across the Springfield side of Sangamon County, plowing drives and lots, opening walkways, and treating ice where the wind scours a road down to glass. Storms that ride in over flat farmland do not announce themselves so much as simply arrive, and the difference between a rough morning and an easy one is who was out at four. Blade down, pass after pass, until pavement shows and the entrances are wide enough for a delivery truck. Plain winter work, done in the dark and finished before the school buses run.