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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, Condé 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.