Mike Kaye vs. The Midnight Travel Meltdown: A Chicago Training Adventure

By Gina Stuelke, CEO of Kenton Brothers

Most business trips begin the same way: pack the suitcase, grab the boarding pass, make it to the airport, and head off for a productive few days of learning. But every once in a while, travel decides to create a story of its own. That’s exactly what happened when Kenton Brothers associate Mike Kaye headed to Chicago for training.

The Mission

The mission was simple: get there, get trained, bring back knowledge, and continue helping our team provide the best service possible. The travel gods, however, had other plans.

After midnight, Mike received the news no traveler wants to hear: Flight canceled. And this wasn’t just a minor inconvenience. The ticket counters were closed. The managers had apparently disappeared for the evening, leaving the gate agents to face a crowd of tired, frustrated, and understandably unhappy travelers trying to figure out what came next.

Hotels? Almost impossible. The few rooms Mike could find were priced somewhere between $500 and $700 — for maybe six hours of sleep. And while a good night’s rest is valuable, even Mike decided that a half-night hotel stay at luxury prices wasn’t exactly the best use of company resources.

Problem Solving

So, in true Mike fashion, he did what great problem-solvers do: He adapted. He grabbed a rental car, found a place to settle in for a few hours, and made the best of a situation that was completely outside his control. The next morning, Mike discovered his unexpected overnight accommodations came with a pretty unique wake-up call. Turns out, he hadn’t just parked anywhere. He had spent the night at Busse Forest Elk Pasture.

Yes… while other travelers were fighting for overpriced hotel rooms, Mike was enjoying a much more “natural” Chicago experience — complete with some unexpected local wildlife. Apparently, the elk decided it was time to start the day and provided the wake-up call that no hotel could have delivered.

Sometimes the best stories don’t come from perfectly planned trips. They come from the moments when things go sideways and someone chooses to stay calm, think creatively, and keep moving forward. That’s exactly the kind of mindset we value at Kenton Brothers. Technology changes. Schedules change. Flights get canceled at midnight. Problems happen. What matters is having people who can adapt, solve problems, and maybe even find a little humor along the way.

Mike may have had a rough night, a few less hours of sleep than planned, but he brought something even better with him — a great story, a positive attitude, and another reminder that the best adventures are often the ones you never planned. And for the record…
We’re pretty sure “sleeping next to an elk pasture in Chicago” is a first in Kenton Brothers travel history!

Kenton Brothers Systems for Security is a WBE-certified commercial security integrator headquartered in Kansas City, Missouri. Our services include commercial security solutions for video surveillance, access control, locking hardware, intrusion detection, mass notification, remote services, and specialty products including robotics, video analytics, and metal detection systems.
To learn more, give us a call.