Jak of all trades

About Jak of all trades

The footbridge that carries walkers over the Elkhart River downtown holds a light dusting of snow longer than the streets around it, shaded as it is by the buildings on either bank. Jak of all trades works the older, mixed neighborhoods near that stretch of river, clearing driveways and walks on streets where a garage might sit behind a house built long before the RV plants ever arrived. Elkhart's downtown blocks sit low enough near the water that cold lingers in them at night, so a driveway shoveled at dawn can still be fighting a skin of ice by midmorning. Handling one job at a time, whatever a block happens to need that day, suits a part of town with no two streets quite alike. By the time the bridge crowd starts its lunchtime walk, the nearby lanes are clear underfoot.