Eat, Pray, Love meets Marley & Me in this moving, eye-opening memoir that chronicles the first year of an extraordinary bond between a woman and an orphaned coyote, revealing powerful lessons about nature, love, and life. When city girl Shreve Stockton set out on a Vespa ride from San Francisco to New York, she expected an adventure—but not the one that would change her life forever. Detoured by fate, she found herself in rural Wyoming, falling in love with a trapper and working hard as a ranch hand. There, she met Charlie: an orphaned coyote pup who wandered into her world and made her cabin his home. The Daily Coyote is the extraordinary true story of their first year together. In a culture where coyotes are often feared and hunted, Stockton and Charlie navigate skepticism, danger, and profound joy, forging a bond that challenges assumptions about wild animals, companionship, and what it means to belong. Along the way, Stockton discovers deeper truths about love, resilience, and living in harmony with the natural world. Based on Stockton’s award-winning blog of the same name—hailed by Vanity Fair and the Los Angeles Times —this moving visual memoir documents Charlie’s first year in stunning full-color photography. Each month’s entry is accompanied by rich images of Charlie as he grows from adorable pup to wily adult, alongside Stockton’s tomcat, Eli, and set against the wide-open landscapes of Wyoming. At once tender, surprising, and unforgettable, The Daily Coyote is a celebration of unlikely journeys and the wild connections that can change everything. Shreve Stockton is a writer and photographer currently living in Wyoming. She received her bachelor's degree in photography in 2001 from Brooks Institute of Photography. She is the author of Meditations with Cows , The Daily Coyote —based on her blog of the same name—and a cookbook, Eating Gluten Free . The Daily Coyote A Story of Love, Survival, and Trust in the Wilds of Wyoming By Shreve Stockton Simon & Schuster Copyright © 2009 Shreve Stockton All right reserved. ISBN: 9781416592204 One The jewels in this life are the events we do not plan; at least that is how it has always been for me. The plan was to move back to New York City -- my city of screeching subways and underground jazz clubs; city of grit and noise and flower vendors on every third corner, of low-lit restaurants and Brooklyn graffiti, dirty martinis and expensive jeans; where music exits every doorway and window and car. New York, where the city lights under cover of clouds give the night sky an orange glow; where eight million people swarm just inches from one another. I had left New York, the city of my passions, for two years in San Francisco, a transition so stressful, it triggered severe abdominal pain and debilitating depression, which, after six excruciating months, I finally diagnosed as gluten intolerance. After healing physically and emotionally and learning how to cook, I decided to write a book about this common, misunderstood condition to fill the void of resources on the market at the time. The week I got my book contract, the apartment building I was living in burned to the ground after someone poured gasoline through the mail slot in the front door of the building next to mine and lit it. The fire destroyed both buildings and killed two of my neighbors that night. I spent two weeks sleeping on the floor at a friend's house while looking for a place to live, then moved to an obscure hilltop neighborhood and, because my new home sat far from public transportation, bought a Vespa scooter with the money I was saving on rent. I wrote my book in a tiny garden apartment overlooking the city, taking daily trips to the grocery store and farmers' market on my Vespa, inventing the recipes that would fill my book. When Eating Gluten Free hit the shelves, I knew my time in San Francisco was nearing an end. The time had come to return East. A wild hare grew into a wild adventure as I pondered how to get my Vespa to New York City. Acting on a daydream, I decided to ride my Vespa across the country and have my belongings shipped once I got settled in New York. Despite nearly everyone in my life urging me otherwise, I set out alone, on the first day of August 2005, to cross the United States on my 150cc Vespa ET4 -- a trip that lasted two months to the day and covered six thousand miles. On my ride across America, I took a sweeping path through Wyoming and fell in love at first sight, love at the very border. I felt magnetized to the land, to the red dirt and the Bighorn Mountains and the wide-openness I had no idea still existed in this country. The landscape around the Bighorns is like an ocean on pause, rolling with the subtle colors of rust and sage and gold, stretching to every horizon. These mountains are unlike other mountain ranges. While the Tetons are fangs of stone and Rainier is an ice cream sundae, the Bighorns are sloped and subtle, b