When you approach Knoxville East KOA campground, engage your four-wheel drive. Just kidding, but the truth is the gravel driveway is loose, the hill is a bit steep, and there are numerous washouts. I wouldn’t bring my hundred grand-plus land yacht up here until they get some pavement in. This is the main weakness here. There are deluxe sites, but for some reason the team chose to get a basic one tonight. The regular sites are mostly level and all shaded with mature trees. Nice, dependable KOA clientele. The cable is wonderful if you like Fox News and evangelical broadcasts, and only want about eight more channels. There’s no other news here, and the entertainment channels are exceedingly limited; we would call this BASIC cable for the KoolAid drinkers. The Wifi is a little weak, too.
The grounds are clean and the pool is nice. The staff is pleasant. It was $32 and change with a KOA card. Our review: Do an overnight in a short rig that has a solid suspension; avoid this place with anything longer than 36 feet.
Just wanted to add one caveat: some campers might be surprised by the sign at the gate, reading, \"Welcome to God\’s Country. No alcohol allowed.\" As we wrote in our review, the restricted cable offering reflects this Taliban-like political notion of what is and what is not permitted. Similarly, the nice four-color pamphlet offers a New Testament message. All of these might make non-fundamentalist Christians, non-Christians, and people outside of the radical religious right wing somewhat uncomfortable. We noticed in the evening that hardly any campers were sitting or walking outside; perhaps this was because some of the men forgot their wives\’ burkas. On another note, there are a lot of nice two-way hook-up sites, but there is only one bathhouse, so make sure, if you visit and need a bathhouse, you ask to be close because it was a good walk (if you had to go) from our site. The view from some sites over the baseball field, which is advertised in the current KOA directory, is even better than the photo portrays: you could literally sit at your site and watch a great game; just too bad you can\’t enjoy a beer, but some people have different ideas about privacy and about what it means to enjoy liberties than the rest of us. We were frankly surprised that the narrative paragraph in the KOA didn\’t mention the alcohol policy, nor was it mentioned in the owners\’ local brochure, which is handed out. We only noticed the \"no alcohol allowed\" sign when we ventured out and walked around the full campground perimeter. We would have driven the extra twenty minutes north on 40 to Bristol/Kingsport, which has all the same amenities (except the baseball view). Given the nature of the steep and rutted incline to the campground and the political intolerance, we should have.