Roots, Rhythm, and the Road Ahead

After two months across seven states, six national parks, and a dozen memorable towns, this week was about slowing down. Reno felt familiar again, its rhythm easy to fall back into as autumn arrived.

October brings a shift here: cooler evenings, gold-tinged cottonwoods along the Truckee River, and a rhythm that feels both settled and festive. Every year, downtown Reno transforms into Little Italy for The Great Italian Festival. For two days, the streets fill with the scent of simmering Bolognese, the festive sounds of Italian music, and the sight of families gathered around long tables.

We sampled sugo and ragù from the family sauce cook-off, watched contestants stomp grapes in wooden barrels, and wandered through vendor booths selling everything from imported olive oil to handmade pasta boards. The festival is loud, crowded, and fully celebratory; a reminder that this city's identity extends far beyond its casino skyline.

You can catch the experience in our video short on YouTube or Instagram.

We also attended a volunteer appreciation event hosted by Living Stones Reno, a night themed after the golden age of Old Hollywood, complete with formal wear, music, desserts, and dancing. It was a joyful evening among friends who have made Reno feel like a real community over the past year.

The Italian Festival has run for over forty years, a tradition born from the Italian immigrant families who helped shape Reno in the early twentieth century. These families came for ranching, railroad work, and small businesses; they stayed and built churches, restaurants, and social clubs that still anchor parts of the city today.

Events like this one keep those roots alive, not through nostalgia, but through food and music and the simple act of gathering. The family sauce cook-off is judged by locals, not celebrity chefs. The grape stomping is earnest, not performed for cameras. The festival feels like a neighborhood block party that happens to welcome the whole city.

Walking through the festival, you hear Italian spoken by older generations, see grandchildren learning folk dances, and smell red sauce recipes passed down through decades. It is a celebration of heritage that remains living and vital, not preserved in amber.

This week also marked a significant milestone: two months until we leave Reno, NV for Dallas, TX. This move is not a detour; it is part of our nomadic strategy.

We need to maintain United States residency during our international travels, and Texas offers the clearest path forward. Here’s why:

1. No State Income Tax
We will only pay federal taxes on worldwide income. No double filing, no state residency audits, no navigating complex tax agreements between states and foreign countries. Texas has no income tax, which simplifies everything when you are earning money from multiple countries and platforms.

2. Straightforward Domicile Requirements
Texas makes it easy to establish and maintain legal residency without requiring physical presence for most renewals. Documents can be handled online or by mail, which matters when you are living abroad.

3. Business-Friendly Environment
Texas consistently ranks in the top three states for business friendliness. For creators and LLC owners, Texas LLCs pay no franchise tax below $2.47 million in revenue (as of 2025). Setup and compliance are simple for remote-first entrepreneurs.

4. Family and Roots
We both have family ties in Texas, which provides a natural anchor address and a credible domicile story for tax and legal purposes. It also gives us a home base for stateside visits.

5. Travel Hub
Dallas–Fort Worth International Airport is the third busiest airport in the world by passenger traffic and serves as the hub for American Airlines. This means direct flights to Europe, South America, and Asia, plus central positioning within the United States for efficient domestic travel.

This week, we began further downsizing: sorting through belongings, listing non-essentials for sale, and planning for a small storage unit in the DFW area. The most meaningful items will be stored; everything else will be sold or donated. Over the next several months, we will continue refining what “home” means when you carry it with you.  

We are scheduled to move the weekend before Christmas. This allows us to spend the holidays with family, then dedicate January to establishing Texas residency, completing final preparations, and organizing what we will store versus what we will carry.

Our international departure is set for January 31, 2026. We’ve booked two one-way tickets to Tenerife, Spain, totaling $2,355, and upgraded to Premium Economy for added comfort on the overnight transatlantic flight. Our Airbnb is in San Cristóbal de La Laguna, Tenerife's historic university town - $1,520 for the month of February, slightly above average due to Carnival season, but ideal for location and cultural access.

The Italian Festival reminded us why food culture matters. The family sauce cook-off showcased dozens of red sauce recipes, each one slightly different: some with pork and beef, others with sausage, a few vegetarian versions with mushrooms and eggplant. Families stood beside their slow cookers, offering samples and willing to chat about recipe techniques and origins passed down from grandmothers in Calabria or Sicily.

We tasted a Bolognese that had been simmering for six hours, rich with tomato paste, red wine, and cream. Another booth served a spicy arrabbiata with crushed red pepper and fresh basil. A third offered a simple sweet marinara, evidence that there’s no one way to sauce your pasta.

The grape stomping contest was less about wine and more about tradition. Contestants climbed into wooden barrels filled with grapes, stomping to music while juice pooled and drained into bowls below their feet. It was messy, loud, and joyful; a reminder that food culture is often as much about ritual as it is about taste.

The Great Italian Festival - Reno, NV

See More visual stories in our Instagram highlights »

We will visit Dragon Lights Reno, Odyssey of Waves & Woods, at Rancho San Rafael Regional Park, a luminous celebration of art and autumn featuring oversized lantern installations, and local food vendors. We also plan a local hike to catch the last of the fall color along the Mount Rose Scenic Byway before winter settles in.

At the same time, we will begin sharing the groundwork behind our move abroad, starting with how we’ve built a sustainable financial plan for two years of intentional travel. The focus over the next few weeks will continue to shift toward transition readiness, even as we make the most of living local in Reno until the day we leave.

As we enter this phase of preparation, Reno feels like both a closing chapter and a quiet interlude before the next adventure. Slowing down this week reminded us why living local matters. It is not just a way of traveling; it is a way of being present wherever you are.

We are grateful for this city, this season, and the time we have had to root ourselves here before we uproot again.

Until next week,
S&S

Some Great Place
Living local in a global world