5 comments about The Best in Tent Camping: Tennessee & Kentucky: A Guide for Car Campers Who Hate RVs, Concrete Slabs, and Loud Portable Stereos.

1. I have known Johnny Molloy for nearly 20 years and he is one camping fool -- he has camped all over the place. And when he finally wrote a campground guidebook for his home state of Tennessee I just had to buy it.

   Sure enough it's a winner.

   Johnny covered all the highlights of Tennessee -- from the bluffs of the mighty Mississippi River at Fort Pillow to the wild shoreline of the Nolichucky River in East Tennessee.

   I have taken him up on his recommmendation to hit Land Between The Lakes National Recreation Area, which Tennessee shares with Kentucky -- that place will surprise. Check it out. Johnny's got 4 campgrounds from LBL detailed in the book, among 60 total campgrounds.

   I haven't yet explored Kentucky yet, but am planning a trip to Mammoth Cave and the Daniel Boone National Forest. Actually, I have the feeling Johnny is going to lead me to a lot of places I've never been!




2. This book opened my eyes to all the camping destinations in Tennessee and Kentucky. I live in Knoxville, TN and had no idea all of these possibilities were around me!

   Being so near the Smokies, I just always went there, but now I have branched out in my tent camping endeavors, checking out such places as Turkey Foot campground in Kentuckys' Daniel Boone National Forest. Mammoth Cave National Park also has a great tent campground, Houchins Ford.
   My own state of Tennessee has cool destinations like Meriwether Lewis Memorial on the Natchez Trace. I always disdained west Tennessee but was surprised to find Fort Pillow State Park on the bluffs of the Misissippi River. Buy this book if you want to expand your tent camping horizons in Tennessee and Kentucky.
   I highly recommend this book -- Molloy makes the information so engaging and interesting as well.




3. The best thing I like about Molloy's book is that it tells me a lot of great new places to explore. I found Montgomery Bell State Park and it was just like he described. My family and I enjoyed the lakes, trails and especially the campground. Buy this book if you to branch out and see some new sites in Tennessee and Kentucky!



4. My family and I like to camp. I want my kids to experience "real" camping! Johnny's frank descriptions and extensive knowledge qualify him as a top-of-the-line outdoor writer. Not only do I enjoy his style, but his accuracy and thoroughness sets a standard. If I am looking for an outdoor book with his name on it, I will order it!



5. My girlfriend and I recently moved to Tennessee and were looking for the BEST places to go TENT camping. What do ya know... someone wrote a book called "The BEST in TENT Camping in TN..." One passage in particular caught my eye.. the one about Edgar Evins State Park. I believe Johnny's description stated "you literally pitch your TENT [people literally park RV's on these platforms] on a level platform notwithstanding that the ground recedes below you... The experience is akin to camping [parking] on a deck looking out on the land below. And I like it." A unique experience such as this right in our own backyard? We were off. We hate RV's, Concrete Slabs, and Loud Portable Stereos. To us the whole meaning of TENT camping is the return to nature, solitude, quiet, and good old fashioned roughing it. This particular park deferred from all of the above. The supposedly unique platforms were mereley individual parking lots spread vast inches from one another, and feet, maybe even yards away from Coke machines and showers; not to mention the electricity and running water ON EVERY PLATFORM. Oh, and the view was nonexistent as well. The lake view off the platform front was blocked by trees-what happened to looking out on the land below?; while the view off the back of the platform was, well, the road you drove in on... Yes, all of 60 platforms sang the same sad story.
   
   Don't get me wrong. If you're an RV owner or a luxury camper you will love this campground! However, if you're looking for a book to direct you to the best TENT camping in TN or KY, ie a book entitled "The Best in Tent Camping: Tennessee & Kentucky..." this book may miss the mark. Although lovely in its own respects, Edgar Evins is more like a Motel 6 minus the roof, but fairly, at half the price. Johnny sighted this campground as the most unusual in the book. My warning is that "most unusual" claim turned out to be most dissapointing. Read with caution and research these sites outside of this book alone.

2 comments about 52 Weekends in the Tennessee Valley.

1. Though I currently live in Atlanta, I grew up near Huntsville, which is in the heart of the Tennessee Valley. This guide, which I received as a gift, took me back to my childhood roots, as well as showed me some new sights that I didn't even know existed. This book disproves the theory that there's nothing to do in Alabama/Tennessee. From the stereotypical Civil War reenactments and bluegrass festivals to exploring Huntsville's Space and Rocket Center, this book has a wide variety of activities. Scenic photos are supported by colorful descriptions for all 52 events. I highly recommend this book for anyone who just moved to Huntsville, Madison, Athens, Nashville, Chattanooga, or anywhere in the area, or to anyone traveling through the Tennessee Valley looking to explore.



2. The Frews know travel. They were raised around the Huntsville area and know the area like the backs of their hands. I know the family and they are wonderful folks who enjoy sharing places and activities with people. 52 weekends in the Tennessee Valley shows the many adventures you can have in Alabama and Tennessee. The photographs are stunning, and they take you into the action. A really good book that shows the variety the area can offer.

2 comments about Hiking the Big South Fork.

1. This is perhaps the sine qua non of trail guides. You will be able to explore the Big South Fork with comfort and ease using Deavers book. If you want day hikes or more challenging distance hikes, this book will help you make your plans. Trail sections are thouroughly explained. Interesting information about the geology and cultural history abound.



2. Absolutely the best source of material on hiking Big South Fork. Couple this with the Trails Illustrated map and you have everything you need but the ambition, and you'll need plenty of that.

1 comments about Camping Tennessee (Regional Camping Series).

1. This book is helpful for us because we prefer public campgrounds, but if you're looking for a comprehensive campground book in Tennessee, this isn't it. With our preferences and the way the book is organized, it is easy for us to find a good campground. I do wish that season information were included.

3 comments about Memphis Elvis-Style.

1. Memphis Elvis Style Cindy Hazen and Mike Freeman A phenomenal number of books have been written about Elvis. Recently it would seem that ever more such books are being published. Some are just rehashes of the same old story; others are the recollections of a five-minute fling, being as much a flight of phantasy as a worthwhile document; a few, a very few, are really worth buying and can be returned to again and again. "Memphis Elvis Style" by Memphis residents Cindy Hazen and Mike Freeman is most definitely one of the latter. It has not been launched under a blaze of publicity, but it is nevertheless an almost indispensable addition to the Elvis library. "Memphis Elvis Style" is, in fact, a guide book of Elvis related sites in and around Memphis. The no less than 129 sites have been cleverly organised firstly by their chronological relationship with Elvis and then further grouped by type. In addition, maps and an index help searching both in the book and in Memphis itself as simple as possible. And if this wasn't already enough, each entry contains detailed instructions on how to find its site and exactly what to expect, many buildings having been flattened or modified in the course of the years. But the book is also for those who have never been or never will go to Memphis. Cindy and Mike have achieved this by expanding each entry with some background information and an anecdote directly relating it to Elvis. This additional information provides some excellent reading and is sometimes quite amusing - I particularly liked the story of Elvis's visit to his local McDonald's with girlfriend Linda Thompson., but there are lots more stories and Elvis lore to satisfy all readers, even those looking for information about Hi Records, car dealerships, and just about everything else associated with Elvis in Memphis. Definitely a book to get! David Neale September 199



2. This is the ultimate read for any Elvis fan. Especially if they are going to spend any time in Memphis. It's eerie, even chilling, to walk the grounds where Elvis walked as a teenager, and even during stardom. This is a step-by-step narrative of how to find nearly every address related to Elvis in Memphis, and every one of them with a used-to-be secret. It's really cool!

   I had this book on my bedstand for months as a gift from my wife. Once I picked it up and read the first page, I couldn't put it down. Every page is loaded with "Man, If I would've only
   known."

   But you better hurry! These sites are rapidly falling by the wayside. As we saw in a store window in Memphis, you can contact the authors for a personalized tour. Although we haven't taken it, this would be a way-cool afternoon.

   Thank you Cindy Hazen and Mike Freeman,
   Dave-n-Tina Campbell
   Mt. Vernon, Texas




3. When I started reading books about Elvis, I began to take notes on where he'd lived, played, recorded, etc., knowing one day I'd travel there. Then I discovered this book! Mike and Cindy had done the work for me. The book is not only well written, but there are informative stories AND they tell you if a place has been demolished, or moved -- information that saved me a lot of time. After reading the book I decided that I HAD to take Mike's tour of Memphis -- it was well worth it. I had a glorious time -- Mike is a walking Elvis-encyclopedia (and fun too!). After the tour, my niece, who was traveling with me said, "well, I think we've done it all and seen it all"! And yes, thanks to Mike and Cindy, we had.

No comments about The Blue Ridge Parkway.

No comments about Exploring Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area (Exploring Series).

No comments about Kids Love Tennessee: A Family Travel Guide to Exploring "Kid-Tested" Places in Tennessee...Year Round! (Kids Love).

1 comments about Great Smoky Mountains: A Vistor's Companion (National Parks Visitor's Companions).

1. I'm a biologist who has spent a fair amount of time in western NC. I know something of wildlife and the Smokies, and I buy books like this to learn more. I also judge the usefulness of guidebooks by how closely they fit with what already know. I only recently bought the Visitor's Companion, and it looked quite worthwhile. However, as I was doing an initial skimming of the volume, I noticed the illustrations were not at fine as I first thought. Many of the animals looked a little chunky, and the trees were a bit squat and artificial. The Box Turtle's plastron just didn't look right. But when I reached the deer. . . I know deer, and no whitetail has a rack like the one pictured on p. 198. It looked like a touch of mule deer, elk and possibly some Asian species all fused together. What it reminds me of is an illustration from a 16th century beastiary or on a heraldic emblem -- drawn with heavy artistic license. I guess I expected the photo-realistic quality of a Peterson guide rather than a drawn-from-memory sketch. Had I noticed this earlier, the book would have hit the shelf instead of the counter. As it is, I am looking over the drawings of salamanders and songbirds with a more critical eye, and will be more likely to doublecheck the facts in the text.

No comments about Travel Smart: Kentucky/Tennessee.