150 Miles from Greyhawk
6th Stop: Porbell's Mercantile & Transport caravan to Hardby
The Midway Inn is aptly named, being strategically located along the River Road in the farming and hog-raising community of Midway, almost exactly halfway (about 25 miles each direction) between One Ford, which lies to the west-northwest, and the bustling port town of Hardby, which lies to the southeast. It is also strategically located on the main waterway to Greyhawk, right where the Selintan River spills into the deeper waters of the Woolly Bay.
Because of its location, The Midway Inn receives almost as much traffic from boats traveling the Selintan River and Woolly Bay as it does from road traffic and caravans traveling between Hardby and the City of Greyhawk, and points therebetween. The Midway Inn sits on a small peninsula and has a couple of docks on its southeast water edge that can accommodate up to six shallow draft river boats/barges or up to 2 deeper-draft bay ships at any given time. The shallow and sandy landing area near the docks can handle additional river boats anchored directly on the beach when there is not enough room to tie off at the main dock. There are also two public fishing piers on the southwest side coast, closer to the river entrance.
The Midway Inn is known both for its flexible accommodations and for its local food variety, which features fresh produce from the surrounding farms, a wide assortment of River and Bay fish, and several different pork dishes supplied by three different families with hog farms near Midway. Depending on the wind direction, the smells around The Midway Inn range from fragrant farmlands and wild flowers growing to the northwest, pungent hog odors from the northeast, strong fish smells from the southwest, fresh water breeze from the south, or some combination of the above.
The Midway Inn is run by the Smithfield Clan, which has owned and operated the inn for three generations. Casey Sr (now deceased) built and started The Midway Inn - originally just called Smithfield’s Tavern. “Smithfield’s Tavern” is the name still shown on the main Inn sign hanging at the Courtyard Gate. Even with the addition of guest rooms to the tavern, demand for accommodations often exceeds the number of beds available inside. A flat field adjacent and north of the Midway Inn quickly developed as a camp ground/tent area on its own for those occasions when rooms inside the Inn were completely occupied, or whenever one or more caravans stopped here for the night.
Casey Jr (eldest of Casey Sr’s three sons) formalized the camp ground/tent area, and was able to charge a small fee for the outdoor camping close by, by building a covered but open air pavilion that featured several fire pits both for warmth and cooking/heating water, when needed. A basic post-and-rail pasture fence (to which mounts can be hitched) was added around the entire pavilion and larger camping area, not so much for protection, but to define the paid camp ground. Several outdoor privies, that drain into the Bay, were also added to ensure other areas on the property were not used and contaminated. The outdoor area also has cleared areas where caravan wagons can be parked within the enclosed area for the night. The enclosed area has a number of outdoor picnic style tables available for overflow eating and drinking, when weather permits.
The Midway Inn is single story building that has an outer stone construction over wood support, with thatched roof. The Main Inn Entrance and the Stable Entrance are both accessed through a Courtyard (fronting River Road) that has an outer Gate that is closed each night from midnight to 6am. Inside, there is a large eating area with numerous community tables and a large fireplace. There is a bar/counter in front of the main kitchen.
There are nine inside rooms accessed from a hall off of the main eating area. Rooms are designed to accommodate 2-4 guests. Several rooms are designed for couples, but cots can be added to any room to fit up to 4 guests in each room. There is a shared outhouse and a private/reservable room with bath accessed from the Courtyard.
The outside tent area can accommodate paid guests under the covered pavilion or in the uncovered area. Guests can also set up camp outside the enclosed area for free. Mounts can be housed within the covered stables or outside at hitching posts in the enclosed area. The covered pavilion has enough space for 30 bedrolls (3 rows of 10) or 15 2-man tents (3 rows of 5) or any combination thereof.
Operating The Midway Inn is definitely a family affair. The bartender and main proprietor is currently Casey III, the eldest grandson of Casey Sr (everyone calls him “Trip”). His wife Betsy and any number of their eight kids and ten nieces and nephews (all between the ages of 3 and 24) handle the various operations of the Inn. Betsy and 1-2 of the older girls cook the food and run the kitchen; several kids serve food and drink and bus the tables; several other kids handle set up and clean up of the rooms. The kids rotate jobs so it’s a crap shoot on who is doing what each day. Casey’s family has a small residence across the street on the Smithfield family property. Two larger farmhouses, also on the family property, belong to Casey Jr, his wife Samantha, and their middle son, Beau (unmarried). Casey Jr and Sam are retired from running the Inn, but still help run the family farm. Trip and Beau’s younger brother, Gus, and his wife Tonia and their ten kids (the nieces and nephews of Trip) live in the other farmhouse. Gus and Tonia raise chickens and provide eggs to the Inn, along with some fresh produce from their farm. Several of the older boys help run the stables and provide nominal “security” at night to the Inn and surrounding property.
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Selintan River and River Road