Galactic Adventures
HESTival | A Dream Come True | Closed Roads

ISSUE 40  |  MAY 21, 2026

Hello, STORYTELLERS! Welcome to the 40th issue of Galactic Adventures: our community-focused, community-informed newsletter.

 

This issue's featured photo comes to us from MODE Owner, Dann Bush


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

HESTival at Big B's Orchard

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Ryan & Kristin Hall – MODE Owners

We rolled into Big B's Orchard in Hotchkiss, Colorado on Friday at 1:15pm. Check-in was 2pm. The HEST team waved us in early, handed us our wristbands and a tote of goodies, and the weekend started.
 

Why We Went

HESTival is HEST's annual gathering — a long weekend at an orchard with the brands and the people who make this lifestyle what it is. We came up with the Gaertner family — Ryan and Morgan with their kids Madilynn and Connor, the @overlandfambam crew. My family — Kristin, our son Wyatt, our 5-year-old golden Charlie — on the other side. Their Ram 2500 and Mammoth trailer parked next to our 2023 Storyteller Overland Stealth Mode 4x4 like the rigs were old friends too.
 

The Setting

Mount Lamborn and the West Elks held the high ridges. The orchard rows ran green up to the fence line. Snow on the peaks above and vibrant green below — the kind of view that stops conversation. We grabbed sites close to the lake, a short walk from everything.

Friday Night

Happy hour started in MIIR HESTival mugs. Cider for me, because we were at an orchard. Kids running, dogs everywhere — a lot of them goldens — and Charlie made the rounds. Kristin spotted an 11-week-old golden puppy and her voice went up half an octave. The puppy is still on her mind.
 

The cold came in fast that night. The HOWL R1 propane stove and its new aluminum Enduro tank threw real heat and pulled everyone in close. We ate, we laughed, camp went quiet early.
 

Saturday — Knights and a Balloon Sword

Wyatt and the Gaertner kids spent a chunk of Saturday on our Super 73 R-Adventure Corsetti SE. We swapped the stock seat for the 2-up bench when we bought the bike — kid up front holding the handlebars, adult driving from behind. Best mod we've made. Connor, Madilynn and Wyatt rotated through orchard laps all afternoon.
 

The day filled itself in. Magic show. Face painting. Balloon animals. Bubbles. And the legendary giant white LEGO bricks — a Big B's staple, there every time we've come, including the 2024 fall festival. Castle-sized blocks set up in a field for kids to build whatever they wanted. Wyatt sat down for face paint with a woman dressed as a fairy — full costume, wings and all — whose voice was squeaky and nasal with a thick old-school New York accent. A dead ringer for Carol Kane as the Ghost of Christmas Present in Scrooged. Funniest thing all weekend. She turned him into a knight. Then he found the male clown twisting balloons and asked for a sword. The clown shaped a metallic silver balloon into a blade Wyatt could actually wield. Off he went to build his castle.
 

He was gone for the better part of an hour. We did not look for him. The orchard handled it. Adults found their way to drinks. Kristin and I went Bloody Mary. Ryan and Morgan went Bloody Maria — same drink, tequila instead of vodka, slightly more dangerous on a Saturday afternoon. The tree swings stayed busy. The live music started up. The dads and the boys took the paddle boat out for a few laps around the pond. The 20-somethings were swimming. Everyone chill. No negativity in sight at this festival — and that is not nothing in 2026.
 

By midafternoon the kids had run themselves out and wanted screens. Starlink Mini lives permanently on our roof, so the kids piled into the Groove Lounge with their tablets and recharged for an hour while the adults kept the conversation going outside.

Charlie at the Lake

Charlie found a tennis ball at the edge of the lake and entered the kind of bliss only a 5-year-old golden can. In, out, shake, drop the ball at someone's feet, repeat. A few other dogs joined him. He was in heaven.
 

Here's the thing we learned the year we lived on the road in this van: every trip works only when everyone is having fun. Wyatt had his castle. Kristin and I had the music and the cider. Charlie had the lake. When all four of us are happy on the same day, that's the whole game. HESTival was built for that.
 

Saturday Night — Pasta and a Movie

Dinner was back at camp. Kristin made pasta on the van's induction burner. First time we've cooked at camp with our new Inhabit mats laid down — we went with the tweed color, and it warms up the space in a way I didn't expect from a floor mat. The Furrion speaker handled the playlist outside while the pasta finished. Two families, two camp kitchens, garlic and basil drifting through the cottonwoods.
 

Then Ryan pulled out his Taruca Outdoor Theater projector screen, we lit up the propane fires, and rolled three Kelty Low-Down 3-person couches into a semicircle. Two families, popcorn, a movie under cottonwoods. HEST brought a prototype chair to the festival to test. I sat in it. I sat in it for a few minutes. One of the most comfortable seats I've put my tush in. I'll say more when they say more.

The Pillow Situation

We picked up the new HEST x Storyteller Overland camp pillows from Flarespace before the festival. Medium-soft, foldable, dark navy with yellow stars. It went straight into the bunk and stayed there. We also wrapped two of the van's existing pillows in Live Free, Explore Endlessly, Tell Better Stories pillowcases — part of the new Adventure Sleep Collection from HEST, Storyteller and Flarespace. The whole bunk now reads like the Storyteller ethos got tucked in.
 

After you go hard in the wild, you need a soft place to lay your head. The people building those soft places are friends with each other, and with you, and with the orchard. That's the whole point of HESTival when you think about it.

Sunday — Paonia, a Diner and One Last Beer

We weren't ready to break the spell on Sunday, so we rolled into Paonia for lunch. Got a booth at the diner, ordered too much, ate it anyway. Then walked over to Paonia United Brewing for a slow afternoon beer.
 

The kids passed a phone back and forth at the table, taking pictures of themselves and dissolving into giggles. Perched on the bar was a tortoiseshell cat so still we genuinely couldn't tell if she was real or a very convincing decoration. We squinted. We debated. The bartender, possibly used to this exact conversation, confirmed she was real — and she bites.
 

We did not pet the cat.

Paonia knows how to do a Sunday.
 

What We Drove Home With

The MIIR mug. The HEST x Storyteller pillow. A 5-year-old golden named Charlie who slept the entire drive back. A knight who has not stopped talking about his castle. A wife who is, to be clear, definitely getting another golden.
 

And the feeling HESTival is really selling — that the people in this corner of the adventure world are the people you want around your campfire.
 

We'll be back next year. Hopefully with two dogs.

Endless thanks to the Gaertner family for sharing the campsite, the campfire and the movie night. And to HEST for putting on a weekend that felt less like a brand activation and more like a family reunion.
 

Event info: hest.com/pages/hestival

A Dream Come True

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Karen Carlson & Gail Petteruti – MODE Owners

After thirty years of backpacking and tent camping, followed by sixteen years in a 2000 VW camper, we were ready to get more comfy and keep exploring this beautiful country. We knew what we wanted in a van and the Storyteller Overland won our hearts, long before we purchased our 2023 Stealth last fall. To be honest, we joined Facebook’s Storyteller page years before we made the leap. Every single post and reply was read before our purchase and reinforced our decision. After adding a few mods and improvements based on all the recommendations from the posts, we were ready to take our first long trip from Seattle to the Southwest. Boondocking was new to us because we were never confident that our VW Eurovan would be able to reach some of these remote places. We yearned to get away from the campgrounds and find solitude.

We left Seattle on April 8th and made it to SW Oregon to meet a friend from Boise. Surprisingly, we found an incredible spot on the Owyhee River road on BLM land about a half mile in. The road continues along a river for twenty miles and ends at a lake and a state park. Plenty of places to camp along the way.

Next was the push to Zion during a high wind advisory! We were so thankful for all who recommended an upgraded suspension system as we white knuckled out way down the highway, slowing down to 50 mph at times. We arrived at Fish Creek National Forest in Millard County, Utah and spend another glorious night under the stars, all by ourselves.

 

Feeling lazy after a long day battling the wind, we took our time to get to Zion NP. We took the Kolob Canyon scenic drive heading to a campground at the Zion River Resort. This was not a bad place to stay if you needed services and the location was close to east entrance.

We spent some time in Zion wilderness area, so the dogs could hike a bit and had lunch in a beautiful area just off Smith Mesa road. 

Onward to Grand Staircase-Escalante for a hike on the Toadstool Voodoos trail which is highly recommended! Such amazing structures of rock and landscape like nothing we have seen before. While a short hike, it felt quite magical the entire time We then found a spot to camp in BLM land off Cottonwood Canyon road just outside Page, AZ.

Up early for a hike in Antelope Canyon just outside Page, located within the Navaho Reservation. This slot canyon does not disappoint. Inside this canyon is an area famous for a Windows screensaver picture and one can see why! A short jaunt to the Grand Canyon’s Kaibab National Forest off of the Coconino Rim road, for the most beautiful campsite yet. We loved the Ponderosa pines and soft forest floor. Plenty of hiking in the forest, with a watchtower one can climb to see the ESSAY TITLE 5 canyon in the distance. A definite place to return with an abundance of areas to camp off grid, very close to the canyon.

Off to Sedona, with high hopes of more off grid camping but word on the street was that the areas near Sedona were a bit sketchy with local drug activity. We didn’t need to be told twice but did not have a place to stay and it was a Friday. We ended up at Camp Avalon which is a spiritual nature retreat on Oak Creek, just 20 minutes from downtown Sedona. Campsites are by donation and some have hook ups. It was lovely and had views of the surrounding hills with big sky. A wonderful discovery for us and we will return to this special area when we have more time.

Unfortunately, our 14 year old dog didn’t enjoy all the driving time. She stopped eating and was losing weight. We decided to cut our trip short and head home. The afterglow of our travels kept us happy and content as we started planning our next trip, on the long drive back to Seattle.

Closed Roads

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Anne & Pat Williams, MODE Owners

Last fall, we did a 7,000-mile loop from Atlanta to Banff and back. Along the way, we encountered some road closures that left us scratching our heads. 

The first was on I-80 in Wyoming. We had about 20 miles to go before reaching a Forest Service campsite we'd chosen, when an overhead sign flashed a warning: "Road Closed to Campers." We zipped by too fast to read the whole message, so we drove ahead to the next exit, turned around, and retraced our steps slowly enough to read it. Meanwhile, traffic of all sizes and shapes flowed in both directions. 

Our second pass revealed that the road was closed to high-profile vehicles weighing under 20,000 lbs, due to extreme blow over risk. Were we "high profile"? We were certainly under 20,000 lbs, but we'd never experienced a situation where we thought the van might blow over. We debated like philosophers contemplating the meaning of life and finally decided to push ahead and drive the 20 miles to our stop for the night. 

The road was fine. There were crosswinds, but nothing beyond what we've handled many times before. 

The payoff was immediate. We found an incredible spot in the Medicine Bow-Routt National Forest- pure solitude, moose footprints everywhere. The kind of place that confirms why you buy a van like this.

The next day brought what I can only describe as peak adventure idiocy. 

We were heading to Kirwin, a supposedly picturesque abandoned mining town in Wyoming. According to every source, the road required three river crossings but was manageable. What those sources failed to mention was that Google Maps had flagged Wood River Road as "closed," forcing a 35-mile detour on some of the most treacherous roads Pat had ever driven. 

We climbed from 9,000 feet down to 4,000 feet and back up to 9,000 feet. Washboard roads. Enormous drop-offs. No pull-offs. Hairpin turns. I saw my life flash before my eyes. Even the mountain goats we passed looked alarmed. 

Pat had been operating under the theory that speed lets you glide over washboards which is true, until you hit a rut and the entire van lurches like it's auditioning for The Titanic. I finally begged him to slow down. 

We made it to Kirwin's river crossings. I waded through in my boots, found a safe path, and we crossed. A Ford Expedition appeared behind us and followed our exact route like ducklings trailing their mother. 

Kirwin itself was... fine. The buildings were intact but not particularly photogenic, and we weren't alone. There were people shooting at targets, a truck with someone lying in the driver's seat in the middle of the day, and a snare trap set up just outside. We decided not to spend the night. Call it instinct, call it self-preservation, call it "that's weird and we're leaving."

Here's the thing: the next morning, we took a chance and drove back out on the supposedly "closed" direct route. It was perfectly clear — no construction, no closure, no signs. Google Maps had lied to us. 

Pat has a theory: someone living in one of the beautiful homes along that road has figured out how to game Google Maps by repeatedly reporting closures, keeping traffic away from their property. It's either genius or sociopathic, possibly both.

STORYTELLERS App | Ask Neil

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STORYTELLERS! Please join us for a live-streamed chat with our very own Neil Grimmer!
05/31/26, 3pm CST

This is an opportunity to get to know Neil more and ask your burning questions about all things Storyteller. 

To optimize the use of time, please send any questions you would like to ask Neil to Emma Walsmith via chat within the STORYTELLERS App or via email at emma.w@storytelleroverland.com prior to May 29, 2026.
 

The structure of the livestream will be:
First 15-30 minutes, Meet Neil! He will spend some time answering previously received questions (see above instructions).
Second 15-30 minutes, casual community chat with Neil.
 

Our plan is for this to be an ongoing series featuring different STO team members. We hope you will find this to be a fun way to connect more with the folks behind the brand, get your questions answered and engage in intentional daydreaming with us.

If you own a Storyteller adventure vehicle, this app is for you. If you haven't joined the STORYTELLERS App, you can download it in the Apple App Store, the Google Play store or use the web browser version at app.storytelleroverland.com 
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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

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