Galactic Adventures

ISSUE 33 | Number 7, 2025

Hello, STORYTELLERS! Welcome to the 33rd issue of Galactic Adventures -- our community-focused, community-informed newsletter.

This issue's featured photo comes to us from Global Expeditioner, Steve Kruse

If you would like to see your photo or story featured in Galactic Adventures, please send an email to daniel.mojica@storytelleroverland.com. We love to hear from you!

1.21 Gigawatts: The Power to Feed Adventure

Craig Arant, MODE Owner

Great Scott! We’re Running a Kitchen on Van Power - Catering Beyond the Pavement.

Watt’s for dinner? Just ask Chef Alex.

Breakfast Beyond the Pavement

There’s something special about waking up miles from the nearest power pole. The sound of waves, the smell of coffee, and the steady silence of a Storyteller vehicle helping to bring it all to life. Our Beyond the Pavement adventures are built around that feeling. Remote places. Real people. Real connection. The kind of experiences that remind you what these vehicles were made for.

From the mountains to the beaches, the deserts to the forests, and all the wild places in between, we’ve shared meals in some truly unforgettable settings. When you’re serving up breakfast on a windswept bluff or dishing out dinner under redwood canopies for thirty hungry adventurers, reliability isn’t optional. That’s where the Storyteller system shines. We plug the catering trailer directly into the van to help maintain power, keeping food fresh, the griddle hot, and the coffee flowing long before sunrise.

It’s not just power, it’s the vibe that fuels connection, conversation, and the kind of community that happens when the road runs out and the lights stay on.

Finding Chef Alex Balderas

Every great story starts with timing, and this one begins when Alex made one of the most important decisions of his life: to claim his sobriety and finally bring his long-time dream, Table VIII Overland Catering, to life.

Around that same time, we crossed paths, and it was immediately clear there was something special about him. His energy, humility, and drive to serve weren’t just impressive; they embodied the same values we build our adventures on. What started as a simple conversation turned into a spark, the start of a partnership that merged two worlds: the precision and discipline of military service, and the freedom and creativity of overlanding.

From the Battlefield to the Backcountry

Chef Alex’s story runs deep. He served 24 years in the U.S. Military, first in the Marine Corps, then Active Duty Army, and finally the Army Reserves, all in food service. He deployed across the globe. From Egypt and Japan to Iraq and Qatar, and earned an extraordinary list of honors: a Bronze Star Medal, Meritorious Service Medal, six Army Commendations, five Army Achievements, and a Combat Action Badge. He capped off his career as a Culinary Instructor for the 8th 104th Quartermaster Battalion, shaping the next generation of military chefs.

Even after retiring from active duty, Alex continued serving, teaching culinary arts through the Job Corps Program, then leading as the Senior Chef at the Boise VA Medical Center. But behind the uniform and accolades, he carried silent battles with PTSD, alcohol, and depression, struggles that nearly cost him everything.

Through faith, courage, and the help of fellow veterans, he turned a breaking point into a rebirth. That night at an AA meeting became the first night of the rest of his life, and the first step toward Table VIII.

The Meaning Behind the Name

The name “Table VIII” pays tribute to Alex’s Army experience. In his unit, crews trained through Gunnery Tables I–VIII to qualify on target engagement. After completing Table VIII, Alex would mark the occasion with a well-earned feast following a week of MREs in the field. That sense of camaraderie, reward, and connection lives on in Table VIII today. It’s not just food; it’s a culinary salute to perseverance and brotherhood.

Table VIII Overland Catering: Rapid Deployment Cuisine

Today, Table VIII Overland Catering is a rapid-deployment culinary operation capable of delivering meals anywhere. From glamping gatherings and galas to off-road adventures and veteran fundraisers. Menus are fully customizable, from vegan and gluten-free to shellfish-free or dairy-free, and always crafted to suit the adventure.

Because whether it’s under redwoods, by the ocean, or deep in the desert, Chef Alex’s mission remains the same: to feed the body, the heart, and the soul, no matter where the road leads.

Community, Community, Community

At the heart of every Backland Adventures experience, from Beyond the Pavement to all kinds of gatherings, is a simple truth: none of it happens alone. It’s the people who show up, lend a hand, and bring their own spark that turn an idea into something unforgettable. Chef Alex and Table VIII have become part of that story, proof that when passion meets purpose, something bigger comes to life. The real power behind these adventures isn’t just in the vehicles or the systems that drive them; it’s in the community that keeps showing up for one another, wherever the trail leads next.

Exploring the West

Brian Radwanski, MODE Owner

After a month and a half of travel, we’re leaving the fantastic and wonderful West behind and heading home to Annapolis. The goal was Balloon Fiesta. I had to fly back and forth for work a couple times while Beth soaked up the miles. We saw a lot of things. OKC surprised us. Hot Springs and Little Rock were both really cool. Santa Fe, Taos, Albuquerque, Sedona, Flagstaff, South and North Rim GC, Marble Canyon, Lake Powell, Alpine Loop in CO. You western people probably have every idea how lucky you are to have all that space to roam. But if you don’t, you are. I’d kill to drive 30 mins and be in the mountains away from people! Most of us out east can’t do that.

After being out west for that long one can never prepare for the striking contrast in topography between the NM, AZ, CO…and when you first settle into the Plaines. That and I had to wash the windshield of bugs for the first time in over a month. We just got the hell into Dodge! Funny thing happened this evening. Went to use the facilities. Opened the door to the main building. As I opened the door I noticed an older gent in the window doing his laundry in the laundry room. As I rounded the corner his dog jumped up and barked something fierce. I still couldn’t tell you who scared the heck out of who more. But we both about fainted. I went back a bit later on equipped with a Greenie. Sadly I don’t know ASL but I had the most wonderful iphone notes chat with Patrick and his wife Audrey. Turns out we don’t live very far from each other. Benji was genuinely touched by the offering and we made fast friends. I’m fluent in dog it seems.

Storyteller Overland Featured in MotorTrend

Photo by Eric Tingwall

Inside, MotorTrend highlighted the understated, premium design — from the stainless-steel backsplash etched with a world map to a modular layout that comfortably fits the whole crew. They noted how the automatic leveling system and 16.8 kWh M-Power system make off-grid living not just possible, but peaceful.

Eric Tingwall: Writer / Photographer

The Storyteller Overland GXV Hilt will take you way out into the wild and provide all the comforts of home when you get there.

Car enthusiasts have a saying: You can’t drive a house, but you can live in a car. It’s used to justify irrational spending on this hobby of ours, whether that’s a $3,000 Trans Am found on Facebook Marketplace or a $3,000-a-month lease for an Italian exotic. It’s also a fun little escapism thought exercise. What would you buy with your rent or mortgage money? A Ferrari? That ’64 GTO you’ve dreamed of since high school?

At $499,722, the Hilt is either crazy expensive or reasonably priced; it depends on whether you think of it as twice the cost of a Porsche 911 GT3 or half the price of a Southern California starter home. Either way, the Hilt undercuts the segment standard-bearer by some $300,000, which basically makes it free according to gearhead math. See, honey, we’re essentially losing money if we don’t buy it.

Living the #Vanlife Dream

"In July, I got to live out the fantasy—briefly—with my wife and two toddlers when we traded our 1,800-square-foot Brady Bunch–era ranch for three days and two nights in a GXV Hilt traversing Utah’s postcard landscapes. Our adventures started at Lone Rock Beach on Lake Powell’s southern shore, where we set off in a 90,000-pound convoy—two Hilts, two Mercedes-Benz Sprinter–based Storyteller Beast Mode vans, a modified Jeep Gladiator, and a Storyteller GXV Epic built on a Kenworth cabover chassis." – Eric Tingwall

Their team took our most capable rig yet on a three-day off-road journey through Utah — and came away saying exactly what we built it for: "they create machines that connect you with people and places in ways that make stories inevitable. It sounds a little hokey to an outsider—it did to me at first—but having experienced the GXV Hilt, I get it. And now that you’ve heard my story, maybe you do, too."

CHeck out full feature

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 Daniel at:

daniel.mojica@storytelleroverland.com

Emma Walsmith with her STO Classic MODE Adventure Van

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