John McCain's 106-year-old mother was once told she was too old to rent a car in Europe - so she bought a Peugeot

Paul Sancya/AP

John McCain and his mother, Roberta, at the Republican National Convention in 2008.

• John McCain's 106-year-old mother, Roberta McCain, was once told she was too old to rent a car while traveling in France - so she went and bought a Peugeot instead.
• She was 93 at the time.
• She later had the vehicle shipped back to the East Coast and drove it across the country to San Francisco, according to The New York Times.
• Roberta McCain, who has outlived her son, husband, and twin sister, is expected to attend her son's memorial services this week.

John McCain's mother, now 106, was told at age 93 that she was too old to rent a car while traveling in France - so she went out and bought a Peugeot instead, according to The Associated Press.

Roberta McCain later had the car shipped back to the US and, upon her return, she drove it across the country to San Francisco to gift it to her great-nephew, The New York Times reported.

Such a move was very much in character for the senator's mother, according to The Times. She has always loved to travel, and many of her adventures were in the company of her late twin sister.

Senator McCain, who died last week at age 81, once got a call from his mother telling him she was on a cross-country driving trip - alone, while in her 90s, according to the AP.

AP Images

Roberta McCain has always had a love of travel and adventure.

Roberta McCain will attend the memorial and burial services of her son, who she still calls "Johnny," in Washington and Maryland later this week. She has outlived her son, her twin sister, and her Navy admiral husband of nearly 50 years.

John McCain wrote in his final book that although a stroke had slowed his mother's pace, her "vivaciousness is a force of nature" and she still has "a spark in her, a brightness in her eyes that would light up the world if she could resume her peripatetic life."

Former presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama will be among those eulogizing John McCain. Current President Donald Trump was not invited.