MER Eventing: There is no Irene in Lexington

As many people in the world know, there was a hurricane this past weekend (and if you didn't know then I'd like to welcome you to the internet, because surely this must be your first time). Since I live almost directly on the ocean, my mom and thought it would be a grand idea to run away to the mountains.
After loading up all three horses we booked it right on out of Virginia Beach. Unfortunately so did the rest of the city and we all met up for what was essentially a tailgating party on I-264. We then commenced the tour of Tidewater so that Apollo could see all of the area before he left...or we had to go all the way around to find a way out, same difference.

This was just the out skirting clouds of the Thunderstorm

Finally, 5 hours and a nasty state-wide thunderstorm later we had made it to Richmond (normally a 2 hour trip btw) then 2 more hours and we were finally pulling into the Virginia Horse Center, where we were greeted by the strangest stall decor I have ever seen.

(The mulch and the curtains were all so that their trophy boxes had a nice backdrop)

Turns out the North American Arabian World Championships (yeah I know, doesn't make sense to me either) was happening at the same time. Besides the fact that this group rented out the entire horse park when they were only using 25% of it is beyond me, but the folks at the Horse Center were as hospitable as ever. They let us come in at 10:30, security came around and turned the lights on, in the morning they watered and dragged both the lower ring and the indoor ring so that we and the rest of the evacuees had a place to ride and were very helpful all 4 times we went over to buy more bedding and hay because we are very bad at math.
The next day I had a very nice ride with the ever fantastic Rachel Lawson (if you don't know her yet, you will very soon because she is an amazing rider) then on Sunday we moved Apollo over to Sunrise Stables where he will be living while I go do this "college" thing.