Three in the morning in the Thumb, and the snow isn't falling so much as running — picked up off a bare field, driven down the section road, piling against the snow fence and then straight over the top of it. PL Services LLC works that hour in Sandusky, clearing drives and lots, opening sidewalks, laying salt where the wind has polished the pavement to glass. By the time the first headlights start moving toward the highway, the way out is already cut. It is cold, unglamorous work, and it decides whether a whole town gets where it is going. Sandusky, Marlette, Deckerville and the roads between them are covered.