Hilton HHonors - Hampton Inn La Junta Colorado

One night stay. Decent MVP rate for the summer vacation season. This is one of the "standard" newer Hampton Inns; nice furnishings, decently-sized breakfast area. Extraordinarily nice staff. As usual, I had to teach the front desk agent how to put in the rental car bonus. Got extended check-out with no problem. Breakfast the usual mediocre Hampton fare. But kudos for very cold milk :) This hotel continues the troublesome Hampton trend of having multi-story hotels with only one elevator.

If one ever wanted to start a conversation about trains, that's the place. There's a crew change for the Kansas City - La Junta - Albuquerque - Los Angeles BNSF train that is the Amtrak Southwest Chief. If one stops in La Junta on an east-bound train there can be a lengthy check-in process amidst the BNSF employees.

If one ever wanted to start a conversation about trains, that's the place. There's a crew change for the Kansas City - La Junta - Albuquerque - Los Angeles BNSF train that is the Amtrak Southwest Chief. If one stops in La Junta on an east-bound train there can be a lengthy check-in process amidst the BNSF employees.

Just to clarify, the Southwest Chief isn't a "BNSF train," it's an Amtrak train that runs over BNSF-owned trackage -- crew members on the Southwest Chief are Amtrak employees. (And its eastern endpoint is Chicago, not Kansas City.)

Of course, there may well be BNSF employees in La Junta as well, but most BNSF freight trains on the transcontinental run go through Amarillo instead of La Junta.