Long before the businesses along Rapid City's commercial strips open for the day, Songstad's trucks are already working the same parking lots they sealcoat and repaint lines on every summer, clearing snow off pavement whose exact seams and low spots the crew already knows by heart. Plowing runs edge to edge across each lot so the painted lines underneath stay protected instead of getting gouged by a blade working blind. Entrances and handicap spaces get cleared first and salted heaviest, since those are the first stretches customers cross once the doors open at eight. Snow gets pushed to the back corners of each lot, away from drive lanes, and hauled off once a lot's edges fill up for the season. The work runs in the dark hours before commercial Rapid City wakes up, headlights and plow lights the only light on the corridor. Coverage follows the same commercial routes the company already strips and seals through the warmer months, across Rapid City and its immediate surroundings.