Page 17 of The Trip of a Lifetime

‘There will be tough moments. We’ve been lucky so far but we have a long way to go,’ said Martha. ‘Don’t get too excited too quickly.’

‘Yeah, but whatever is thrown at us, I’m glad we’re doing it together.’

Erin then imagined watching this back when it was aired and she just knew they would splice this segment together with a moment of disaster or dejection. She’d seen enough reality TV shows to know how it worked.

They left Whistler, passing a lake so still, it was almost impossible to tell the reflection from the reality of the land above it. Logan told them it was called Green Lake. Erin took out the journal she’d brought with her and began to record their progress on their journey. It was nice to have paper and a pen rather than making notes on her phone for a change. It really made her think about what she wanted to say. They had a small camera with them as well that Erin had bought for the trip. She wanted to capture as many pictures as she could. It was unlikely she’d ever do anything like this again.

‘If you ladies are into cross-country mountain biking, there’s a challenging trail just through there,’ Logan said, pointing into the trees bordering the side of the road. ‘It’s called “Kill Me, Thrill Me”.’

‘Definitely not our thing,’ Erin said, and Martha laughed.

‘I’ve always considered myself to be a person who embraces a challenge,’ she said. ‘But not that one.’

They could see a lot more on this leg of the journey as the cab on Logan’s truck was up slightly higher than Carol and Jack’s motorhome and there weren’t curtains on the windows. The road seemed endless and they had moved away from the sea but spent a while following the length of a river. The mountains never seemed to change around them. As soon as they passed one, another popped up behind it. The tops were still covered in snow, even though it was late in May and gondolas were sailing high above their heads, carrying tourists up into the mountains. Erin hadn’t ever seen so many fir trees in her life.

‘People aren’t still skiing now, are they?’ she asked Logan.

‘Yeah, some resorts offer high-alpine skiing up to June, and even into July,’ he said. ‘If you have snow, you have folks willing to slide down the mountain on it.’

They settled back into the journey and Martha nodded off with her head on Erin’s shoulder. It had been an intensive few hours so far and the comfort of the truck must have lulled her into resting. Noah turned off his camera and laid it down in his lap.

‘So,’ he said, glancing back at Martha for a moment, ‘what’s the story with Martha and Harrison?’

‘I don’t know what you mean.’ Erin tried to keep her expression steady. She had no intention of spilling the tea to anyone else.

‘Oh, come on. The look she gave him at the dinner last night was murderous. He won the race that first time, didn’t he? Is she hanging on to a fifty-year-old resentment?’

Erin forced out a laugh. ‘Hardly. My grandmother is made of stronger stuff than that.’

Noah just looked at her sceptically and then after a moment he turned his attention back out of the windscreen.

‘The camera never lies,’ he said.

At times they were climbing higher into the mountains and there was nothing but firs, fast-moving water and sky. Then they would pass a small town or village and the trees would soften, there would be grass, roadside gas stations and long, low motels. But the snow-capped peaks of the Rocky Mountains would always create a backdrop. As they got closer to Cache Creek, though, the land opened up and became flatter. Gone were most of the firs and everything seemed drier, more covered in grass and scrub.

True to his word, Logan dropped them off at a motel on the side of the road, just a short walk to a gas station. The owner, Michelle, was kind and helpful. She offered to put out a message on Facebook to see if anyone was prepared to drive ‘two lovely ladies’ to Prince Rupert, leaving early, in exchange for money for fuel. She also said she would ask if any of her guests were heading in that direction.

It was a huge ask. A journey of about 1,000 kilometres that would take a good thirteen hours. It was similar to asking for a lift from Land’s End to John o’ Groats, something Erin wouldn’t even consider normally. Martha said that a backup plan would be to hire a car which would cost them about $170 for the day, according to Michelle.

‘We will need to spend money on this journey,’ Martha said. ‘We won’t be able to rely on the kindness of strangers all the way but it’s great we’ve managed to get lifts so far. We could think about working for a few hours in exchange for a meal or a bed for the night too. We have to be resourceful. I imagine public transport will be easier once we get further west. I think this leg of the journey is to unsettle us or to get us to spend a lot of cash and make it harder the further we go.’

Michelle didn’t offer food but did direct them to a place where they could get a good burger after Erin said that was what she was craving. They stuffed themselves with the biggest burgers on the menu and shared a bowl of fries before wandering back to the motel with the intention of flopping down on their beds and falling straight to sleep.

‘I’ve got you a lift as far as Kitwanga,’ Michelle said as soon as they walked into the reception area. She was hopping from one foot to the other excitedly. Like a child. But she looked so cheerful it made Erin smile.

‘Really? That’s brilliant,’ Erin said, with no clue as to where Kitwanga actually was. She looked to Martha to see if she knew.

‘Who’s prepared to take us all the way there?’ Martha asked as she pulled out the map.

‘A woman who is heading up into the Yukon. She can drop you en route at Kitwanga if you’re happy to pitch in with her fuel. She’s looking for eighty dollars which is a lot cheaper than a car hire but leaves you 240 kilometres short of your target. There is a bus that runs between Kitwanga and Prince Rupert, though,’ Michelle said.

‘We’re here and Kitwanga is there,’ Martha said to Erin, her finger on a place tantalisingly close to Prince Rupert.

Martha had spread the map across the front desk but Michelle didn’t seem to mind. In fact, she seemed very invested in their journey.

‘If someone is prepared to take us all that way for eighty dollars then I think we will accept, gratefully,’ Erin said.

‘She wants to leave at five,’ said Michelle with a theatrical wince.