At three in the morning Route 17 runs empty and the sodium light turns falling snow orange the whole length of the retail strip. Galaxy Plowing Services is awake for that hour — pushing driveways clear, opening walkways, spreading salt on lots while the sky is still letting go. Snow comes sideways here on a north wind and stacks against garage doors overnight, and it will beat you outright if you wait for daylight. So nobody waits. The reward arrives at dawn: black pavement, banked edges, a town that can get where it is going.