Meet three Californians who have made the move to Arkansas

It was the perfect California life — so perfect he moved to Bentonville, Arkansas.

The International Mountain Bicycling Association had hired him to present at its annual conference, which in 2016 was in that city in Northwest Arkansas that is also home to the Walmart corporation. And, given that Bentonville rests in the foothills of the Ozark Mountains, it boasts of being the mountain biking capital of the world.

“I was like ‘Arkansas? OK!’” McGhee recalled with a chuckle. “I was completely surprised by what Bentonville is, with all the free art and eclectic food and community of people and the mountain bike community.”

Bentonville also hosts a film festival founded by Oscar-winner Geena Davis and Crystal Bridges, an admission-free, world-class art museum founded by Alice Walton, scion of the Walmart dynasty.

McGhee, who believes that any mountain biking trail can be surmounted by adaptive riders as well as the fully-abled, was hired by OZ Trails and NWA Trailblazers, which build and maintain mountain biking routes throughout Northwest Arkansas. McGhee would ride the trails, ensuring that they were accessible for adaptive riders such as himself.

“I’ll get contacted by trail builders wanting to make an ‘adaptive trail,’ and I’ll say ‘that is not what you need to do.’ We don’t need to segregate anybody,” McGhee said, adding that Northwest Arkansas wanted to be the mecca for both adaptive and “regular” mountain biking. “Every day I’m on my friggin bike reviewing the trails in muggy, hot weather, and writing up reports every night for them,” he said.

Although McGhee still rents an apartment in San Diego, he was able to purchase a house in Arkansas for around $260,000; a comparable domicile in his hometown, he said, would run well over a million. His mortgage is less than the rent he still pays for his beachside apartment.

But it wasn’t just affordable real estate that made McGhee move east. One aspect of his business was brokering sales of adaptive bikes from a Polish manufacturer to consumers. McGhee says he aims to assemble the bikes from parts himself at his Arkansas home, an operation he believes that can scale up quickly.

“In California, we’re talking at least a decade to get something done on a trail. It’s a very different world here,” McGhee said, adding that the trails he consults on in Arkansas are on private land. “I tell them what I want done and it gets done right away. There’s not all this red tape.”

Antonio Rushawn Williams is another San Diegan who has left behind the high-priced beaches and Mediterranean weather for the landlocked life of Northwest Arkansas. In California, and later in Dallas, Williams had worked for Walmart’s corporate division when he was invited to move to Bentonville to become the voice of “Walmart Radio.”

One thing he does not miss about California is sitting in gridlock on I-5.

“Here in Northwest Arkansas, it’s about a 15-minute commute to each location you want to get to,” said Williams, who has taken up mountain biking since moving. “They actually have great food choices too, not just in Bentonville, but also in Fayetteville and the neighboring areas.”

Williams is a fan of the thriving Arkansas brewery culture. And having spent so much time in California and Texas, he was certainly keen to find Arkansas tacos. He cites Bentonville’s Yeyo’s, offering authentic Mexican cuisine, with helping to scratch the itch.

Bentonville is also known for Vietnamese, Indian, Thai, and Chinese food, as well as vegetarian options. The 21c boutique hotel, hosting filmmakers every year for the film festivals and Walmart corporate clients, boasts a high-end restaurant called the Hive, offering a unique take on Southern cuisine that incorporates locally grown ingredients.

Williams knew absolutely no one in Arkansas when he agreed to move his family there, but soon found a small circle of close friends. He even ran into a friend of a mutual friend from San Diego shortly after moving in. Williams hopes his father and stepmother will soon join him in Arkansas.

“In the end, I think we will all be around here,” Williams said of his extended family. “People love it every time they visit.”

Nathan Wetherington is an actor in Los Angeles who had a small but crucial role in Season 3 of “True Detective,” which was filmed in and around Fayetteville and the Ozarks and aired on HBO in 2019. He lived temporarily in Northwest Arkansas for the weeks he was required on location, enjoying camping in the rolling hills and swimming in lakes near the small mountain town of Oark.

“There’s an energy to the landscapes of Arkansas that I just love,” Wetherington said. “The place is magic.”

Wetherington has returned to Arkansas several times since his acting work in the series that starred Mahershala Ali. He has camped in the Ozarks in between acting and directing his first feature, “A Thousand Miles Behind.” Wetherington, too, chafes at what he views as certain unfortunate turns in the Golden State.

“I can always hear myself think better away from L.A.,” he said. “If California keeps going the way it’s going, I wouldn’t rule out potentially moving [to Arkansas] at some point.”

McGhee, the adaptive biker, says he was welcomed into Northwest Arkansas by the riding community. His house even sits across the street from an entrance to the Coler Mountain Bike Preserve.

“I can call those people any hour of the night if I need anything at all — personally and also professionally,” McGhee said of his new friends in the Natural State. “I have come into a very strong community of support.”

McGhee says he envisions living in California for half the year, even as he has purchased a house in Arkansas and moved his business there. Used to sleeping with his windows open year-round by the beach, the ample insects of Northwest Arkansas — to say nothing of the stifling summer heat and humidity — make this impossible in his new home.

“Every day my heart aches. The ocean is my home,” McGhee said of missing his time surfing the Pacific. “The ocean is how I keep my bearings — how I know north, south, east, west. I’m turned around and lost in a new place.

“But that shows you what Bentonville offers me — that I’m willing to leave that to come here.”