Port Jervis, New York -- The tri-state gateway to great motorcycle riding

Not too long after I started riding motorcycles and expanding my horizon farther and farther from my home in New Jersey, the road eventually led me to the city of Port Jervis, New York. And, over the years, I've passed through this river town in the Shawangunk mountains more times than I can count.

So what's the big deal with Port Jervis?

Well, as they say in real estate -- location, location, location.

Port Jervis, with a population of about 9,000, is located at the junction of New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. So, for me and many other riders, it serves as a meeting place and launch point for great trips into the surrounding mountains of each state and along the beautiful Delaware and Neversink rivers.

When I pass through Port Jervis, I always slow down and obey the local traffic rules. And, generally, that's what I've seen other riders do. However, I'm sure the town's residents, business owners and police have seen their share of out-of-town speeders. And I bet many bikers come through on motorcycles equipped with excessively loud pipes. Such thoughtlessness has generated lots of anti-biker sentiment and the stiff enforcement of traffic laws in many U.S. towns. But, from year to year, Port Jervis remains biker friendly.

Throughout the riding season, and especially on weekends, motorcycles fill the parking lots of virtually every diner and roadside restaurant in Port Jervis. A steady stream of bikers rolls into and out of local gas stations to fuel-up and continue their journeys.

Port Jervis has served as a transportation center for hundreds of years, first as a stop along Old Mine Road, said to be the oldest 100-mile-long commercial road in America. The town was also a major port on the Delaware and Hudson Canal, the nation's first $1 million private venture. The city took its name from John B. Jervis; the D & H canal's principal engineer who routed the commerce-generating waterway through town after construction on this regional canal system began in 1825.

Attracted by the area's natural beauty and aquatic resources, thousands of rafters and canoeists brave the Delaware River's white water rapids every year. The region's rivers and streams offer outstanding wilderness fishing. They also provide a habitat for American Bald Eagles that draw visitors into the area to view these majestic birds.

Whenever I head west from my home on Long Island to Port Jervis, I can take a variety of back roads across New York or New Jersey. Then, when I get into town, the whole region opens up. I frequently head south along Old Mine Road into New Jersey then through the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area. Or I might go north along Route 97 through the Hawks Nest area high above the Delaware before continuing into upstate New York or turning west into Pennsylvania.

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