While Tom and I were exploring the National Park sites in eastern Tennessee, we stayed at the Clinton Knoxville KOA. KOAs are our go-to campsites. They aren’t the most spacious or scenic places we could stay. Instead, they are usually close to the interstate and thus convenient for what we call “park and play”. We park the RV and then venture out each day in the Prius. With gas prices being what they are the 60 mpg average on the Prius makes a little extra driving very cost effective.
KOA has three levels of campgrounds with over 500 campgrounds throughout North America. Their app makes it easy to search for a campground in any location. We can make multiple reservations on the app and it sores our rv information. You can buy a membership for $25 a year, which gives you a 10% discount on every stay. All KOAs have an office with long hours, a small store, plenty of pull-through, full hook-up sites, and are pet friendly. They all have laundry and shower facilities.
Beyond that, KOAs can vary in their offerings. We stayed at one recently in Forsyth Georgia that had a full-service delivery restaurant. After we got set up, they delivered fresh, warm chocolate chip cookies as a thank you for staying with them. You can bet that little freebie will get us to stay again!
KOA Journey is the most basic level of KOA campground. The sites are very close together and there is usually highway noise because you are next to an interstate. They are easy pull-in, pull-out and designed for short, overnight stays. Many KOA Journeys are glorified parking lots with a little scenery around the exterior.
KOA Holiday is the middle tier of campgrounds. The sites are a little more spacious with more landscaping. There is a pool and other amenities, such as a lake, fishing, bounce pad. The Holiday campgrounds offer nicer Camping Cabins. They often offer food services, pancakes on Saturdays, and special events. The campgrounds are aimed at families in the area for a vacation who want a comfortable home base.
KOA Resort campgrounds are the highest level of luxury for a KOA, and you pay for the additional amenities. They are especially scenic with larger sites and enough activities and amenities to keep a family occupied for a week. KOA Resorts are meant to be destinations in and of themselves.
The Clinton Knoxville KOA is a Journey campground. This was fine for us because we were gone all day, every day during the five nights we stayed. The sites were so close together that we could have had a conversation with the people next door while we were all inside our RVs. It is not the place to stay if you want to sit outside your RV in a camp chair around a fire. But it was just minutes from I-75 and in the middle of all the places we wanted to visit while we were in the area.
We stayed in Site 16 at the Clinton Knoxville KOA, which was the Ohio section. Or, at least, that’s what we called it. Most of the people in the sites around us were from Ohio. The site was just barely long enough for our 27 foot RV and the towed Prius. There were plenty of bigger rigs around us.
The Clinton Knoxville KOA has a small pool which wasn’t open yet for the season. There is a dog park, but beyond that no amenities. The KOA is located behind a Weigel’s gas station and convenience store, which made it convenient for gas and snacks. Weigel’s is a Knoxville based company, so we saw them all over the place. There is a Walmart across the road, but we managed to avoid going there.
We enjoyed our stay at the Clinton Knoxville KOA. It made a good home base and allowed us a convenient place to rest after a day of exploring. Not much to look at, but most of the time we were there, it was dark anyway.