At three in the morning the section-line roads south of Byron Center are the only thing awake, and the plow lights find them one straight mile at a time. Bouma Brothers Excavating handles snow removal out here — pushing driveways and lots, opening walkways, and laying salt and sand before the first engine turns over. The lake bands come in off Lake Michigan in long grey rows, dropping four inches on one gravel road and nothing on the next, so a route gets run twice and judged by eye. There is a particular satisfaction in a drive that is already black and wide open when the porch light comes on. Winter here isn't endured so much as answered.