Take A Hike

South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford said about his recent absence, "I let them down by creating a fiction with regard to where I was going. I said that was the original possibility. Again, this is my fault in...shrouding this larger trip."


The single word that can be an adjective, adverb or pronoun. In Governor Sanford’s statement, “that” was the pronoun referring to his original location disclosure to his staff that he might hike the Appalachian Trail following a grueling legislative session. Was his disclosure of a private getaway, hiking the Appalachian Trail, a planned destination or a thinking-about-it idea? Or, was it something more momentous – a statement that inflated into a lie? He did not hike the trail as he mentioned. He drove his black Chevy Suburban to the Atlanta Hartsfield Airport for a lover’s rendezvous in Argentina. The governor referred to his statement about hiking the trail as a “fiction.” That fiction was the beginning of his new role as an author.

What does writing have to do with Governor Sanford’s absence? His actions sound like a political gaff. Like a betrayer, living a lie at the expense of others. His staff thought he was out hiking. Indeed, he had taken a hike, as the old saying goes. His wife didn’t know where he was but she didn’t share with the media that a planned separation was in progress. With that separation, Governor Sanford embarked on a new trail. He stepped out of the governor’s box when he took a thread of reality and formed it into a fictional story. Back in South Carolina, he has stepped back into nonfiction reality, at least for a while. His misadventure will be publicized for a few weeks until a decision is made as to whether he should continue as governor.

Meanwhile, the first chapters of his creative nonfiction book are underway. The story begins in the governor’s office with the hiking statement to his staff and fades into a scenic drive to the Atlanta, Georgia airport and his thoughts as he boards a plane. The first chapter ends with an embrace in his lover’s arms in Buenos Aires. Perhaps he will mention in a later chapter that the airline has named his reserved seat numbers Appalachian Trail and upped the price for get-a-way flights to South America. The book cover will be a tough call. Should it be a nature spot along the Appalachian Trail or a split design of Atlanta and Buenos Aires airports? When the book is purchased by a mainstream publisher, Mark Sanford will be in the media spotlight once again, complete with flashbacks to June 2009 when he and Maria Belen Chapur were world-wide news. Whether his published memoir will be true or creative nonfiction, it is sure to be a best seller for others who are planning to take a hike!