Ben has his own agenda for the road trip: tryouts for the Brookdale Hockey Academy are nearby, and if he can manipulate the driving route to pass close enough, maybe he can sneak away to the skating rink and prove to his father he has what it takes to be an NHL player. Or the movie production they drive by and are able to get Jacob onto the set as an extra for he has ambitions to be a film actor, and a small movie role is a big first step. You should expect surprises on a Duffy road trip, such as the dilapidated house that Ben's dad stops to buy along the way, vowing to fix it up like new.

Ben hardly knows them, and he would be getting irritated by now if Jacob weren't such an interesting fellow and Charlotte weren't intelligent and pretty. The twins are overachievers whose hard work at school led them to miss the field trip, but now they have a way to join their classmates. But hey, what's a Duffy road trip without unplanned guests? Ben's dad also picks up Jacob and Charlotte Norton, twins from Ben's class, before hitting the road. Duffy didn't know Brig had been sleeping in the company van. Even before they leave the driveway, the road trip begins accumulating surplus passengers Ben expected they would take their two border collies, Atticus and Conor, but.what about the young guy who it turns out has been sleeping in his dad's van every night? Brigham (Brig) Hancock works for Ben's dad's house flipping business, but Mr. Ben is heartsick, but has no time to stew: his father plans to drive him out to meet up with a school field trip that left the day before. Doesn't he understand that Ben needs his support if he's ever to play in the National Hockey League (NHL)? Sometimes Ben thinks his dad is so wrapped up in his own career that he doesn't care what his family wants.īen feels blindsided when his dad rouses him from bed before sunrise one morning to cheerfully tell him he won't be going to Brookdale.

This is a big break for Ben, but he's disappointed when his father greets the invitation with minimal enthusiasm. In the first chapter of Field Trip he gains something else: an invitation to try out for Brookdale Hockey Academy, a new high school that will specialize in training student-athletes to dominate on the ice. Going pro is an uphill battle, but Ben has the speed, strength, and obsession to make a go of it.

His father still 'flips' houses for a living, purchasing broken-down places, fixing them up, and selling them for a profit, but Ben is more concerned with his own burgeoning hockey career. Fourteen-year-old Ben Duffy is mostly comfortable with his current life. Was the journey in Road Trip a once-in-a-lifetime perfect storm of events? Field Trip, which takes place the following year, proves otherwise.

Field trip gary paulsen