"I was intrigued. Bentonville of course is the Global World Planetary Headquarters of Walmart, and I'd read about how the Waltons were turning it into a cycling destination. Furthermore, for all the places in the world I've visited, I had yet to visit the southern United States. (I mean yes, obviously I've visited south Florida countless times--I'm from New York for chrissakes, that goes without saying. I'd just never gone anywhere in the southern United States where everybody didn't have a New York accent.) So I readily accepted."