The drivers of the Cayuga County Highway Department take their job with a truckload of salt and, when the snow twirls in a ghost dance on the road, a measurable amount of courage.

“There are times when everything is so white, you can't see a ditch, you don't have anything to go by. You go by fence posts and signs and mailboxes, most anything you can grab on to for just a minute,” said Tony Ragucci, who has been plowing for the county for 23 years. “Your wing-man can help you.”

The wing-man directs the hydraulic controls that aim the blade mounted on the right of the 30-ton truck. He, along with the rest of the county crew, are held in high esteem by Ragucci.

“Certainly it isn't the trucks, it's the men,” he said. “I can't say enough about my colleagues. They sometimes get called out at two, three o'clock in the morning. They go out in wind storms, ice storms, snow - away from their families for long hours. Some of these guys have gone out 12, 14 hours, went home, slept for four hours, then gone back out. They're quite a bunch.”

The team keeps close track of the Weather Channel, the radio and newspaper forecasts - then watch the sky and second-guess with predictions of their own. And while this winter's weather has been pretty tame, some maintain they're not out of the woods yet. Memories of the blizzard of '93 still drift to mind. That storm took place in mid-March.

“March of '93, we didn't get home for three days. It started on a Saturday morning. You couldn't get home; and if you could, you knew you couldn't get back. We got three feet on the level. Where it was drifted, it was more,” Ragucci said.

“We were all younger then. If it happened again now, I don't know what we'd do,” he added with a laugh.

Wind-blown snow across a country road carries with it a personal plan of attack determined by the individual driver, who is in charge of his own route. He drives it every day and/or night which, in itself, constitutes a plan.

While a foreman goes out to inspect and advise, such issues as when and how much salt to use, especially on trouble spots, fall between old and new schools of thought among the men.

“Guys keep on the same roads in the same truck. If it's hard to see, he's going to know every bump, every ditch. Maybe the blacktop got broken up because of the salt. He's been on it before. He's going to know,” Ragucci said.

He also knows when and where there will be traffic, a component of salt use.

Storm fences were put up in years past to catch snow where the wind typically pushes it out into the highway. Cost, time and landowners eventually made the effort unfeasible.

“East-west roads, the south wind is worst and will make trouble. All north-south roads will catch the west wind, across open fields or between houses,” Ragucci said. “You're doing three operations at once: plowing, salting and winging. Some say, if there's an area where the wind's blowing, let it keep blowing - don't put anything in its way. The salt will catch it and make it stick. Other guys say salt it because it will keep the snow soft.”

Originally, salt was mixed with sand, 75 percent, 25 percent respectively.

That was the old school of thought. Now pure salt is used. In this case, the decision was out of the drivers' hands.

“When the temperature is cold, in the single numbers, salt is less effective. The old-timers will tell you to mix it with sand and regardless of the temperature, at least you'll get some grit. But it was decided we couldn't afford it, plus the tires and brakes on cars these days are so much better it wasn't needed. Plus, there was the cleanup in the spring. Salt dissolves but the sand had to be swept with a power broom. And certain villages, the sand got into the catch basins and storm drains and they got clogged up. There was a problem with the farmers, too,” Ragucci said.

Plow drivers consider whether the sun, or traffic, will enable the salt to be effective. Traffic will “work the salt” by generating friction.

While traffic can be beneficial, it can also be a hazard.

“We've come upon some terrible wrecks,” Ragucci said. “They get tangled up with each other, and God forbid, somebody gets hurt; and a lot of the times it's because they're just going too fast. We've all been there. You get up and you're going to be late for work. Snow plows only go 25 mph.

“You have to be careful, you're driving a truck that weighs 30 tons and you've got to treat it gently. Some of these guys are running on very little sleep. And I know the car behind me, the driver is thinking - how am I going to pass? It's amazing. Some pass and some of them make it, some don't. We try desperately to keep everyone safe.”

The method of plowing a road is to push, via the wing, all the snow to the right.

When the plow reaches an intersection, it “wraps” the snow around the corner for a few truck-lengths and, out of courtesy for the next driver, and for effectiveness, tries to leave as little as possible when it stops. (However, the next truck does clear what remains.)

Then the driver backs the plow back into the intersection to go to turn down the road it just came up, to push the snow from the remaining lane.

Sometimes, if a road is “plugged,” or completely buried in by snow, the plow will first go down the center to clear a lane, then go back to widen.

During a bad winter, even regularly plowed roads, with time, become narrower and narrower.

“The banks are the worst. We've been lucky this year. They're difficult because you get the winds coming off them. You have to shelve the banks: that buys you some time.

“But eventually, the plow and the wing are helpless to move it; it's like a rock. You feel like you're being trapped when the banks are up to the telephone poles,” said Ragucci, explaining that is when they bring out the blower, which chews up the bank and throws the snow out into the fields.

There is a particular danger present when shelving banks, he said.

“If the banks get tall, a lot of kids like to build tunnels and play along the roads. God forbid if anyone ever got hit by that wing. Parents should make sure children stay away from the road,” he said.

Regarding that just-cleaned driveway that the plow washes full of snow?

“It's a problem. I feel bad. I'm going down the road and I know where the old folks live,” Ragucci said. “But there's nothing we can do. If you had to stop at every driveway, you'd never get done.”

How about the mailbox that ends up down the road?

“Especially if you're going east, the mailboxes are on your side. If you have traffic coming toward you, you can't pull the wing around it. I've actually stopped. We try not to hit them, including sign posts.”

Plowing or shoveling snow from your driveway out into the road?

“It's illegal,” Ragucci said.

Meanwhile, the fleet will be cleaning and maintaining their trucks when the sun is out, watching the weather reports, keeping their fingers crossed until spring.

“I've been taught for years there's no two storms that are exactly alike,” Ragucci said.