Former Car and Driver editor John Phillips draws readers to his newfound retirement cabin, with his "back yard" extending 22 miles into Montana's uninhabited Bitterroot Forest. He faces a jagged first-year transition, often involuntarily housebound, as he studies the valley's history via Lewis & Clark's diaries. He interviews eccentrics in his no-stoplight village: the contentious marshal, the blacksmith, the Orvis guide who witnessed a tourist's car torn in half, the overworked search-and-rescue team, and an ex-smuggler hippie. Phillips chronicles the violent demise of his "tame" deer Ronda, eaten by a seven-foot-long cougar, even as he scuffles to absorb whatever psychological equilibrium the forest primeval might offer. Funny fiascos predominate in this "how to" guide to running away from it all-which first means surviving the intractable dominatrix that is Mother Nature's Montana.

John Phillips has written for magazines for forty-five years and is the former executive editor of Car and Driver. Phillips has contributed to Harper's, the Toronto Globe & Mail, Elle, The Cleveland Plain Dealer, Cond� Nast Traveler, Smithsonian Air & Space, and Sports Illustrated. He was the recipient of the Ken Purdy Award for journalism in 2007; enjoyed a one-on-one interview with Joe Biden; and is the author of the novel Slippery as well as the true-crime saga God Wants You to Roll.