The Importance of "The People." STORYTELLER Spotlight. & You're Invited.

ISSUE 46  |  August 28, 2026

Hello, STORYTELLERS! Welcome to the 46th issue of Galactic Adventures: our community-focused, community-informed newsletter. This issue's featured photo comes to us from MODE Owner, Ryan Hall.

If you would like to see your photo or story featured in Galactic Adventures, please send an email to emma.w@storytelleroverland.com 

The Importance of “The People” 

Title

Tim Weimar, MODE Owner

What is adventure to two kids who grew up on the streets of Brooklyn? Well, it has changed since riding the subway to high school. Growing up in New York City, the word “outdoors” was more related to playing stoop ball outside with your friends, and star gazing, well there was none of that. Maybe that’s why my wife Lee and I fell in love with the southwest, when we started visiting Tucson in the mid 1990’s. 

When we first purchased our Jeep, we didn’t realize not only the adventures it would take us on, but the people we would meet. For the last 8 years, my friend Ken has definitely shown these kids from Brooklyn what the word “outdoors” can also mean, and we are truly blessed to call him and his wife Sheila our friends. 

Back in 2019, Ken led me to the community that surrounded Turtleback Trailers. This is where we learned the importance of community. We would have never seen some of the places we have, without this family. Oh and yes, I’m all about stargazing and sitting around that campfire!!

The importance of “the people” lead us to Storyteller.  We knew the type of vehicle we wanted would be larger than the Jeep, capable of towing our Turtleback, and had to be surrounded by a great community, and that’s when we started looking at the STO family. 

Whether it’s a long 2 or 3 week adventure, or a quick weekend out in the desert, our 2022 Stealth was the perfect choice for us. Whether with the Jeep or our Stealth, the importance of surrounding yourself with the people who mean the most, will make those memories last a lifetime.

I remember my wife, Lee, and I taking a 3 week adventure to the PNW the first summer after we purchased our Stealth. Let’s just say, if we didn’t have to come back for work, we would have just followed the warm weather. Along with the perfect weather, the unexpected meetups with other STO peeps and adventurers was so much fun!


Knowing we can park our STO by a beach, or at a beautiful overlook, open the doors and set up the chairs is perfect for us. 

The following May of 2025 we had so much fun camping with the STO community at Overland Expo West in Flagstaff. The stories around the campfire, the coffee time in the mornings, and the mid afternoon naps just made this weekend perfect, we knew we were around good people.  

Later that summer, spending two weeks in and around Durango and Telluride was a great escape from the summer heat in Tucson, and we went rafting for the first time, so cool!! They put the New Yorkers in the front, what were they thinking. 

As we both still work full time (only a few more years) we are inspired by the amazing adventures we see on the FB page, the Storyteller app, and the monthly digital campfires. You also can’t talk about this community without mentioning the great support we have gotten from all of these platforms and Storyteller HQ, when gremlins pop up, thank you.
 

We can’t wait to take the plunge, adventuring more, and being a part of these amazing adventures!!

STORYTELLER Spotlight

Title

Introducing the STORYTELLER Spotlight!  A weekly feature of one of our excellent fellow STORYTELLERS shared in the STORYTELLERS App! Over the last five weeks, we have celebrated Rui Coelho, Janusz & Ela Bialek, Pamela Walsh, UncleOrly and Sarah & Jeremy Sanchez. To see the STORYTELLER Spotlight in real time, be sure to join the STORYTELLERS App. We’re approaching 1,000 community members on STORYTELLERS and we’d love to have you join us. 

Name - Rui Coelho
Storyteller Vehicle & its name - 2024 MODE OG (with a few modifications…doesn't everyone?)
Instagram - @white.rabbit.adventures |

 

 The name "White Rabbit Adventures" is a playful nod to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Alice follows the White Rabbit out of curiosity and into a world of discovery. Since my Storyteller is white—and my surname, Coelho, translates to "rabbit" in Portuguese—it seemed like the perfect fit.

Title

Favorite Quotation - My personal motto is, White Rabbit Adventures: Follow Curiosity. Discover Wonder. Return with Stories.


It reflects the journey in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland:
- Follow Curiosity — Alice chooses to follow the White Rabbit.
- Discover Wonder — she experiences an extraordinary world.
- Return with Stories — she comes home changed by what she has seen.

And my travel plans are somewhat fluid; I remind myself of another favorite:
"If you don't know where you're going, any road will take you there."
— The Cheshire Cat (paraphrased)

Favorite Trip So Far - My maiden voyage in the White Rabbit was to Nova Scotia and Cape Breton for Atlantic salmon fly fishing. The trip had everything I was hoping for: spectacular coastal scenery, peaceful remote boondocking, and the unexpected bonus of meeting my first fellow Storyteller owners - “Hi” Adam and Kristen! – and camping out on a cliff with a lighthouse and cows.

Cape Breton has become one of my favorite places. I've already returned twice and have my sights set on Newfoundland and Labrador next.

A Dream Trip - Several years ago, I rode my BMW motorcycle from Anchorage, Alaska, to the Arctic Circle through Yukon and then ended in Portland, Oregon. I'd love to experience that adventure again—this time at a slower pace, sharing it with my wife in the White Rabbit.

Anything Else You'd Like to Share - I retired two years ago and soon discovered Storyteller Overland. After joining the Facebook community, I realized these were exactly the kind of people I wanted to travel with—curious, generous, always willing to lend a hand, and never short on a good story. This proved very true at Vansgiving East. I hope we have more East Coast, or Northeast, events in the future.

My first year and a half of van life was spent traveling with my two Red Fox Labradors, Annie and Sooki. Annie sadly crossed the rainbow bridge last December, and every trip still reminds me of the adventures we shared.

More recently, I've been combining travel with family, following my oldest son to his Division III track meets throughout the East Coast while squeezing in as much fly fishing and exploring as possible. After graduating from college, he joined me on another Cape Breton adventure filled with fast hikes, beautiful beaches and unforgettable memories.

Now my wife, Julia, has decided she'd like in on the fun. She says I'm having entirely too much of it—and since we're both getting older, she retired a little earlier than planned so we can spend more time exploring together.

This fall we're heading out on a longer adventure through Vermont, Montréal, North Bay, Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Minneapolis. While in Minneapolis I'll attend the Trout Unlimited National Conference, where I serve on the board of the Greater Boston Chapter and as Vice Chair of the Massachusetts Trout Unlimited Council. Julia will eventually fly home while I continue west toward Wyoming, Montana...and wherever curiosity leads before winter catches up with me.

If our paths cross along the way, I'd love to meet up. After all, every great adventure is even better when it's shared—and everyone has a story worth telling.

Name - Janusz and Ela Bialek
Storyteller Vehicle & its name - 2025 Dark MODE - "Emeryt" (means "retired person" in Polish - and we were happy that plate was available for our registration!)

Favorite Quotation - "Be Prepared" (Scout Motto - we have been involved with scouting our whole lives, and even now that our kids are all grown up, we continue to volunteer - gotta get more kids outside and teach appreciation and life in nature)
 

Title

Favorite Trip So Far - Our favorite trip so far has been a road trip to Colorado. We drove from Oakland, through Yosemite to Mammoth to pick up our son. We then headed through the Nevada desert, in some truly remote areas (like we had never seen) including passing Area 51. We drove through Utah and Colorado on 15 and 70, and the views did not disappoint. From Denver, we drove to Grand Teton NP, then Craters of the Moon in Idaho, back through Nevada and home. It was a whirlwind, and we realized we need to take more time. We also appreciated so many tips from the STO family on where to go - especially a last minute place to stay in Winnemucca. It was so wonderful to fill our hearts and souls with so much beauty, with adventures like we had never experienced before.

A Dream Trip - Our dream has always been to go to Yellowstone (we were so close at Grand Teton, but could not go!) and also Mount Rushmore. We hope to go in the coming year.

Anything Else You'd Like to Share - We are so grateful for our STO community!

Name - Pamela Walsh 
(partners in crime, my pups: Pax GSD 8 yrs, Sunni Lab 8 months)


Storyteller Vehicle & its name - 2020 Classic

Favorite Quotation - “Tell me, what is you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?”
— poet Mary Oliver
 

Title

Favorite Trip So Far - Gah, too hard! If I have to pick one it would be traveling through NCNP and British Columbia with my grandson last summer. We had a blast!

A Dream Trip - Entire Pan American Highway from Prudhoe Bay AK to Ushuaia Argentina. Roughly 19,000 miles and fourteen countries. 

Anything Else You'd Like to Share - Perhaps another Mary Oliver quote; “Pay attention. Be astonished. Tell about it.”

Name - UncleOrly
Co-Pilots - Mike & Mo
Storyteller Vehicle & its name - Vandit #19, 2024 Beast MODE "Moose"

 

Favorite Quotation - “Love Wins"

 

Favorite Trip So Far - Now that I’ve spent two years and 100,000 miles in my Beast MODE, I would say that distance in that time defines my journey thus far. Change of life move to minimalism, what I own is in my van. All of the new friends I’ve made…all part of my new tribe have helped redefine my life after a significant emotional event.
 

Title

A Dream Trip - Having cut my Canadian Rockies trip Short. I am looking forward to completing that part of my journey. Starting Waterton going to Banff and onto Jasper. Really looking forward to it.

 

Anything Else You'd Like to Share - The only sidenote here is that 100% of my experiences thus far have started with two Facebook groups. The Storyteller Facebook group and the sprinter owners group. The help with answering questions, the camaraderie that has come out of all of the friends that I’ve made and a confirmation that this lifestyle really is robust, really is a real thing.

Here’s to many more years on the road.
UncleOrly Out

Name - Sarah & Jeremy Sanchez

 

Co-Pilots - Kevin & Banjo

 

Storyteller Vehicle & its name - 2021 Classic MODE - Vanchez

 

Favorite Quotation - “We do not take a trip; a trip takes us.” — John Steinbeck
 

Favorite Trip So Far - It’s, hard to choose, but our month-long road trip across western Canada is probably our favorite trip so far. We covered a lot of ground, saw some incredible places and had the freedom to follow our curiosity instead of sticking to a rigid itinerary.

 

Vancouver Island was a particular highlight. Jeremy likes to joke that when it comes to water, he can take it or leave it. Give him mountains or a desert and he’s happy. But Vancouver Island may have changed his mind a little. The rugged coastline, little communities and slower pace of life made this particular version of island living seem surprisingly appealing.

 

That kind of unplanned, serendipitous, freewheeling travel is our favorite way to explore. We both strongly believe that the best experiences can’t be planned. The unexpected detours, last-minute decisions and places we stumble across along the way end up being the most memorable parts of any trip.

 

A Dream Trip - We would love to see how the other half (of Canada) lives. We’d probably start by visiting friends in Calgary, then spend a couple of months making our way east to the Maritime provinces, just figuring it out as we go.

 

Anything Else You’d Like to Share - We sometimes joke that Vanchez is really a time machine. We both still work full-time jobs and run businesses while we travel, but somehow life in the van exists a little bit outside of normal time. Days stop being organized around the usual routines and schedules. We might work in the morning, drive somewhere in the afternoon, make dinner in the middle of nowhere and wake up the next day without knowing exactly where we’ll end up. The responsibilities don’t disappear, but the traditional structure of daily life kind of does.

 

Just as importantly, the van has introduced us to a community of genuinely interesting people who share that same sense of adventure. Some of our closest friendships have grown out of this weird little world of rolling adventure machines.

 

P.S. Kevin and Banjo wanted us to add, “Arf arf! 🐾”

You're Invited! ✨ STO Fest 2026

Title

Join us for three nights and two days deep in the high desert of Johnson Valley, California, on a private playground called Lasertown. Expect campfires and conversations, live music, a vendor village, learning labs, great food and cold drinks — and the people who make it all worth it. Find out more about the event here and we look forward to seeing you all in Johnson Valley CA!
Title

Service your Storyteller van or GXV truck at STO Fest - for Free!

Our Service Team will be on-site at STO Fest, running 30-minute diagnostic and tune-up appointments. One appointment per owner. 
 

These service appointments are for diagnostics, tune-ups, questions and a review of related parts that are located throughout the Storyteller/GXV portions of your vehicle (non-chassis related issues). If you're unsure whether your request fits, send us a note service@storytelleroverland.com.

book appointment

Life's Greatest Luxury is saying YES to the Next Grand Adventure!

We'd love to hear your stories and see your pictures from the road! Send to Emma at: emma.w@storytelleroverland.com

Latest Stories

Title

more stories