It wasn't exactly "hey Dad, let's go ride bikes," but it was close.
Kari Loya, a Eugene native, had long wanted to take a long bicycle trip with his father, and he had his heart set on the TransAmerica Bike Trail, a string of rural highways stretching from Astoria to Yorktown, Virginia. The onset of Alzheimer's disease in his father, Merv, made it a now-or-never thing in 2015.
So off they went, an adventure recounted in Kari's book Conversations Across America: A Father and Son, Alzheimer's and 300 Conversations along the TransAmerica Bike Trail that Capture the Soul of America.
At 75, Merv may have been the oldest person ever on the TransAmerican Bike Trail. Kari visits with highlights of their journey.