East of the city, Apple Avenue runs out toward Wolf Lake through open country where snow refuses to stay where it landed. Egelston Township handles snow removal across that ground, where a road cleared at dawn can drift shut again by mid-morning. The work is plowing, widening back the shoulders, and treating the low spots that ice first when the wind lays a wet sheet over them. Out here the distances are longer and the houses are farther apart, so a storm is measured in miles of pavement. Open roads are how a rural township keeps functioning in January.