On a February night the trail crossings around West Branch still glow with headlights hours after the town has gone quiet, and the snow keeps coming down through them. Gough Services is out in those hours, plowing driveways and lots so the morning can start without a shovel. The blade drops, the banks go back, the salt goes onto the walk between the drive and the door. Ogemaw County winters do not negotiate — they only ask whether you showed up. The answer here is storm after storm, drives opened before first light.