May 2022
The Shackelford’s Adventure to New Orleans is a story eleven years in the making. Jonathan and his wife Melissa visited the Big Easy in 2009 and fell in love with the city. They always planned on coming back. With Johnathan’s ALS diagnosis in August of last year, they decided that now was the time to go and applied for a Team Gleason Adventure.

Their four-day trip was packed with a Need a Ride pedicab tour, more than a few beignets at Café Du Monde, and a twelve hour expedition with Beyond the Bayou Tours into Cajun Country.

Beyond the Bayou graciously helped make their tour special, including an educational private ecotour in Maurepas Swamp.

“The Beyond the Bayou adventure was awesome,” said Melissa. “We were able to incorporate so many different aspects of New Orleans in that adventure. The meet and greet with Nathan Williams of the Nathan and the Zydeco Cha Chas was inspiring.”

“When Nathan played, my husband’s face truly lit up.”

“Then Nathan prayed with him and that moment was inspiring and truly touched my husband.”

“We feel truly blessed to have been able to take part in this adventure in New Orleans and would not have been able to afford it without the graciousness of Team Gleason,” said Melissa after the family recovered from the whirlwind trip. “My husband has wanted to return to New Orleans with our son and it was everything we hoped it would be.

Special thanks to Beyond the Bayou Tours, Need a Ride, and Sonder