A4 • HERMISTONHERALD.COM
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2017
COMMUNITY
Lab work leads to
Friends recall cross-continental trip
awkward interaction
By TAMMY MALGESINI
COMMUNITY EDITOR
I
t seems there are certain work and certainly had no in-
occupations where people terest in dealing with this in the
think you’re always on duty. work bathroom. The last thing I
I’m sure doctors get it all the wanted to do was carry around
time — running into patients a bottle of my own pee.
at church or an athletic event.
I produced the required
Some people think noth-
specimen and exited
ing of showing off a rash
the laboratory’s bath-
and wanting free medi-
room. Standing there
cal advice.
holding a clear plastic
As a journalist, I often
bag which contained a
have people approach
clear plastic container
me about doing stories
with my urine, a wom-
— at community events
an who was getting her
(that I’m not covering), Tammy
blood drawn by a dif-
at the grocery store, at Malgesini ferent lab worker was
a restaurant eating din- INSIDE MY
staring at me. I smiled,
SHOES
ner and even standing
because despite the
at Interpath Laboratory
caffeine deprivation,
holding a container of my own I’m generally a decent human
urine.
being.
Going to the lab to provide
She said hello and intro-
urine and blood samples al- duced herself. I was dumb-
ready messes with my routine founded — remember, I’m
— especially the tests that re- standing there with a plastic bag
quire fasting.
with a container of my own pee.
It’s a delicate balancing act
“OK,” I replied. All I want-
to go the required number of ed was for my lab lady to
hours without consuming food, re-appear so I could unload my
while drinking enough water to specimen and be on my way.
provide a urine specimen and However, that didn’t occur and
still be a civil human being in the woman then proceeded
public in a caffeine-deprived to tell me she was with some
state because I haven’t had my community group in town and
morning Pepsi.
she wanted to talk to me about
Because of my early week her club.
double deadlines, it’s most con-
I just stood there — fl abber-
venient for me to do lab work gasted that someone wanted
on a Thursday or Friday. On me to engage in a discussion
Sept. 1, the stars were fi nally while I was standing there
aligning. I woke up in desper- holding my own pee. Appar-
ate need of Pepsi, but it had ently, she noticed my reaction
been nearly two weeks since and asked, “Are you OK?”
the doctor called in the order
It was surreal. I’m not sure
for lab work. I knew I had to how long the encounter lasted
take care of it.
but the other lab worker inter-
I made it to Interpath and rupted the awkward interaction
the phlebotomist draws my and directed me to my lab lady.
blood sample. Since the urinal-
And, I wasn’t OK. I hadn’t
ysis didn’t require fasting, she eaten for nearly 12 hours, I was
said I could take the bag and in desperate need of Pepsi and
specimen bottle with me to do did I mention, I was holding a
the UA at home if I wasn’t able container of my own pee.
to produce on demand. If I had
———
planned to go home, that may
Contact Tammy at tmalge-
have been a viable option.
sini@eastoregonian.com or
However, I was headed to 541-564-4539.
Described as an amazing
adventure, a pair of Herm-
iston men recently remi-
nisced about a bicycle trip
that took them from Seattle
to Montreal, Canada.
Richard Hunt and Jer-
ry Cullers met as grade
schoolers at West Park El-
ementary School. The trip,
which was just over 50
years ago, was almost de-
railed after an incident with
a train.
“As kids in Hermiston,
we always rode our bikes
around town,” Cullers said.
“We also rode out to San-
dy Beach and places like
that.”
Their families ended up
moving to separate towns
in Washington within a
couple of weeks of each
other — Cullers’ family to
the Renton area and Scar-
lett’s to Tacoma. The fast
friends maintained contact,
often spending the week-
end at each other’s house.
As young teenagers, the
pair even rode their bikes
to Hermiston on a couple
of occasions.
Scarlett and Cullers had
been to the World’s Fair
in Seattle and after seeing
information about Expo
‘67 on TV, they hatched a
plan to make the journey.
Their parents told them
they needed to make de-
tailed plans, which includ-
ed writing to Dan Evans,
Washington’s governor at
the time.
The 17-year-olds re-
ceived fi nancial support
from the governor’s offi ce,
who also put them in touch
with offi cials from the Se-
attle World’s Fair. The con-
nections continued, which
led to the Leo Scherrer Co.
of Seattle, who donated bi-
cycles for the trip.
“We ran into a whole lot
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PHOTO CONTRIBUTED BY WANDA HUNT
Hermiston residents Richard Scarlett and Jerry Cullers look through scrapbooks, articles
and photos chronicling a 2,800-mile bicycle trip they took 50 years ago as teenagers.
of support,” Scarlett said.
On June 17, 1967, a
contingency of mayors at-
tending a convention saw
the duo off at the base
of the Space Needle, the
site of the 1962 World’s
Fair. During the trip, they
camped, stayed in the
homes of mayors and oc-
casionally in motels. The
most unusual accommoda-
tions included the back of
a U-Haul type truck and a
jail cell — although they
weren’t actually incarcer-
ated.
The teens mapped
out plans for the roughly
2,800-mile journey. It in-
cluded stops to meet offi -
cials, speak at civic groups
and participate in youth
activities. They anticipated
it would take 40 days — it
ended up taking 62 days.
“We had a route laid out
pretty good,” Cullers said.
“Then, once we got started,
we found out that was pret-
ty rigorous.”
Between running into
inclement weather and the
constant riding, Cullers
said they found themselves
wanting to slow down to
enjoy the trip. However,
that led to them becoming
behind schedule.
Train nearly derails
journey
Eating breakfast one
morning in Harlem, Mon-
tana, Scarlett and Cullers
were trying to fi gure out
how they were going to
make up time. Noticing
a railroad yard across the
street, the teens decided to
hop a train and ride about
200 miles to Culbertson,
Montana.
They easily climbed
aboard while rail workers
were switching cars. How-
ever, when the train didn’t
slow down at their destina-
tion, Cullers and Scarlett
were faced with the dilem-
ma of how to get off.
From opposite sides
of the train car, the teens
climbed down the ladders,
dropped their bikes and
then jumped off — but not
at the same time.
Banged up and separat-
ed by several miles, neither
boy knew where the other
was. Fortunately, a woman
and her daughter happened
upon Scarlett. They drove
until they found Cullers.
Relieved to be reunited,
the boys were banged up.
Their injuries resulted in an
overnight hospital stay for
Cullers and three nights for
Scarlett.
Serving as goodwill
ambassadors, they didn’t
want to share about the
misadventure with the
train. When interviewed by
newspaper reporters, they
were faced with having to
explain the delay.
“The articles about my
injuries said I sprained my
ankle when I stepped in a
gopher hole,” Scarlett said.
Their parents insisted
they go back and pedal the
distance where they had
hopped the train.
“They said if we are go-
ing to do this trip right, we
had to ride that stretch on
our bikes,” Cullers said.
When their pocket
change dwindled, the teens
worked for a few days at
the North Dakota State
Fair. Other fun along the
way included water skiing,
bowling and other activi-
ties with teens.
Cullers said that the peo-
ple they met along the way
were friendly and went out
of their way to help them.
“It was probably the
most adventurous thing
I’ve ever done,” Scarlett
said. “It was the trip of a
lifetime.”
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