Best RV Parks & Resorts near Gardner, KS

My husbands job took us to Merriam Kansas and we needed a place to stay, we made reservations at Walnut Grove. We were surprised to find it in the middle of a neighborhood. The staff were very nice and helped us into our site. The sites were on gravel and very close to each other. Walnut Grove was both short and long term campers. There were no tent sites. We had full hook-ups, cell service, and free wifi. We had a picnic table and fire ring and could purchase firewood at their store.

During our stay I was awakened to a startling noise and couldn't figure it out until I went outside and saw the walnuts falling onto our camper. By the time we left, everything was covered(stained) tarnish brown. The park is in a walnut grove hence its name. They had a dog run which was not fenced but provided some grass for the pups. They had a laundry mat and clean showers with good water pressure. There also was a strange noise coming from the trees and when I asked the office what it was they thought it was locusts. I knew that was not their noise so I had to find what it was. After searching, I found that it was tree frogs 🐸 and it was their call. So if you are there in September listen and you will hear them, they love the walnut trees.

We’re from Kansas City and there are very few options when it comes to Campgrounds. This is by far our favorite and their rates are very reasonable. We enjoyed our stay, staff was very friendly and the park was clean and easy to get in and out of. You’re also very close to Hillsdale State Park, but this location has a tornado shelter 🤣

The park: great store, laid out well, gravel sites. Some are back in but most are pull through. Full hook ups- power/water/sewer.

72 Sites: 30' wide, 60' long and level 24 Sites are pull thru All have 30 & 50 amp service

You are within 40 minutes of southern Overland Park, and within approximately an hour (depending on traffic) to Kansas City.

Amenities: Laundry Storm Shelter Showers Meeting room available for RV Rallies (Must Schedule) Fishing Lake

Cellular: service was good, able to stream video, work, Facebook, etc.

Rates as of April 2020 (from their site):

-DAY RATE: $45.00 -CLUB RATE: $40.00 (Good Sam's, FMCA, AAA, Military) -WEEKLY: $215 -MONTHLY: $575 Back In $700 Pull Through (if not paid by due date, Day Rate will apply.)​

This isn't our typical "go to" type campground; we stopped here because we were having some trouble with our truck and needed to have it looked over before heading out further west. The RV park is really close to downtown Independence, Missouri and has everything we needed for the night. It's within walking distance of everything in town, has full hook-ups, wifi, bathrooms, and a laundry facility.

It is what you might expect for an RV park so close to downtown, a little lacking in outdoor aesthetics. But, the bathrooms were clean, the showers very hot, and the laundry room was tidy! Also, the manager was super nice and accommodating.

Independence has some cool stuff to check out and has a very midwestern, small-town feel to it, even though it is basically a suburb of the greater Kansas City area. There is a lot of charm and some interesting architecture in the immediate area. The Truman Library, the Community of Christ Church, the downtown theater and court house are all interesting and worth a look. We had some time to kill and made the rounds to these various places. If the weather would have been warmer, it would have been a very bikeable area, too.