"Neither snow, nor rain, nor heat, nor gloom of night stays these courageous couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds" - Herodotus

Todd Wetherington | Daily Herald Postal Carrier Eddie Wrenn delivers mail to a home on Franklin Street. Advertisement

Lance Martin, Herald Senior Staff Writer

ROANOKE RAPIDS - The mail must be delivered. Even if temperatures soar above 100 like they did last week, the mail must be distributed and the postal carriers at the Roanoke Rapids Post Office know this.

“You drink a lot of Gatorade and water,” said Frank Daccolti Friday.

While he was driving a truck near River Road, Daccolti explained that 90 percent of his route is a walking one.

Visible in the floorboard of the truck was a large red water jug, of which he will drink a gallon with a chaser of about a quart of Gatorade. “If it gets too hot, you stop and get under a shade tree so you don't get heat stroke,” he said.

For June Whitaker of Roanoke Rapids, the mail carriers' health during these hot days is a big concern. That's why she makes sure she has bottled water on hand when they make their rounds.

“They work harder than any of us realize,” she said. “They've got to be out there in temperatures of 102 and 103 and into a metal vehicle with no air conditioning and hotter than it is outside. It's hard work. It's risky. I think all the people would like to say thank you.”

Friday was a day when Mother Nature hurled heat and a thunderstorm at the mail carriers.

But the dampness on mail carrier Eddie Wrenn's shirt was not from the rain, it was sweat.

“I'm just trying to survive today,” Wrenn said as he delivered mail in the 900 and 1000 blocks around Franklin and Vance streets. “That lightning's a little sharp.”

Wrenn, who was helping out another carrier, is mainly a mounted carrier, which means he drives the truck. There is really no advantage to driving the truck because it has no air conditioning, only a fan, and must be locked so the mail is secure.

When temperatures hit 100 degrees outside, the temperature inside the truck soars to 120, Wrenn said, and there's heat from the floorboard, which he has measured to be around 128 degrees.

Wrenn said he usually drinks about a gallon of water. “You do the best you can.”

Near Rochelle Pond, carrier Steve Huddleston said he averages about a 10-mile hike a day on his route and he drinks about 5 gallons of water every day.

Look into his mail bag and there is a small bottle of water given to him by a resident on his route. He will get another bottle a few houses down.

With more than 500 stops on his route, Huddleston's shirt is soaked with sweat. After a while he will get another one from his truck.

“I always bring an extra shirt,” he explained. “I like to bring some professionalism.”

A northerner, Huddleston admits he's not used to the humid heat North Carolina has. “The heat's killing me. It really doesn't get that cold in the winter.”

His preferred time of year for carrying the mail? “It's really got to be spring if we get one.”