STOGUIDE pages 68-73:Layout 1 10/31/07 3:12 AM Page 69
SNOW JOB
Along for the ride
with a veteran plow-man
STORY & PHOTOGRAPHS
I
SCOTT MONROE
nside, it’s loud and hot. Outside, it’s the tail end of a wet April snow-
storm. We chug down the road in a Stowe Highway Department snow-
plow. The truck exhales exhaust and there’s sand and rocks and slush,
and grinding, spinning and bouncing. On the dashboard sits a big coffee
mug, juice container, and radio dialed to country music on WLVB.
Snowplow driver Larry Foster of Morrisville surveys the road ahead,
his hands steady on the gearshift lever and steering wheel as the truck
bounces along.
I had wanted to tag along for a plow ride all winter, and this would be
my last chance. It’s mid-morning on a snowy Thursday in early April,
and I finally meet up with Steve Bonneau, the town’s highway superintendent,
in front of the town hall on Main Street. Truth be told, it would have been a
heck of a lot more exciting if I had managed to hook up with Stowe’s road
crew during the Valentine’s Day storm in February, which dumped over 30
inches of snow on the region. I looked around—a steady snow that didn’t seem
to be sticking—and wondered whether I’d actually get to experience the actual
art of snowplowing at all.
But it turned out that I was just witnessing the results of a persistent road crew
from my Main Street vantage point, as the road superintendent assured me that
on Stowe’s back roads there would be plenty of snow to push back. Bonneau, a
longtime employee of the Stowe Highway Department, lifts his radio and search-
es for a suitable plowman to take me on as a passenger. “Truck 11 to truck one,”
Bonneau intones. “I’ll meet you at Edson Hill, near the Round Hearth?”
Bonneau drives to the foot of Edson Hill Road, and by now it’s clear that
this April snow is nothing to scoff at. It’s sticking to this road, and no doubt
piling up on Stowe’s higher-elevation roads.
Bonneau and the highway guys hit the roads at four in the morning, mostly
applying salt and sand, and plowing as needed. On this day, Bonneau and the
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