OK, I know I'll look silly on this one but what the heck.
I went to my parents for the weekend to replace the broken up corrugated fiberglass covering their deck with metal, and some other work around the place before winter.
They are on a rural road with many farms nearby (they have 5 acres and 2 llamas). The road goes another 6-7 miles up the side of a mountain with multi-million dollar homes up top that have views of the water and Victoria, BC in one direction, the Olympic mountains in the other.
Anyway, I was sleeping in the guest room and at 4:30am when awakened by the sound of a vehicle. It was not like a car or truck, but definitely an engine. Sort of a whining to it. Looking toward the side road (private) out the window there was no light at all. It sort of faded away, then started to get louder again so I hopped out of bed. Looking out the window in the dark I still saw nothing and actually looked up as if it might be a UFO taking off!
Later when they were up I asked if they had heard anything strange during the night. My Mom said she had woken up at 4:30 but didn't know why. Aha, I thought, she heard it too.
Then my Dad explained it. The neighbor down the side road gets up at 4am daily. On Sunday he keeps an eye out for the paper delivery, and when it comes he likes to drive his tractor in the dark, down the road to the mailbox to get it.