May 27, 2024

By Kate Meadows, for SiouxFalls.business

Monika and Peter Johncour know how to tackle life at a sprint.

The couple, both veteran Air Force backseaters trained to drop bombs from B1 aircrafts (think of Goose in Top Gun), purchased the Timber Ridge Campground in Keystone in 2021, while still on active duty with the military.

This year, Timber Ridge Campground was named the Small Business Administration’s veteran-owned business of the year for the state of South Dakota.

The Johnsons each have dedicated more than two decades of service to the United States. They deployed in support of Operations Iraqi Freedom, Enduring Freedom, Inherent Resolve and Continuous Bomber Presence in the Pacific.

Owning a campground an hour away from Elsworth Air Force based, where both are stationed, can be summed up in two words from Monika: a “wild experience.”

But it’s more than that. It is a dream for the couple, something they imagined doing in retirement.

“When we started dating (more than 20 years ago), Peter told me he wanted to run a campground in retirement,” Monika said.

Then, on St. Patrick’s Day in 2021, Peter and a friend jumped on a side-by-side and drove Iron Mountain Road. Near the first tunnel they approached – one of the tunnels that frames a president’s face on Mount Rushmore – Peter’s friend pointed out Timber Ridge, a campground that was for sale. He knew of Peter’s dream, and, as Monika tells it, he said to Peter, “Hey, you guys wanted to own a campground in retirement. This one’s for sale.”

It became “one of those synchronicities in life that you pay attention to,” she said.

Living near Elsworth Air Force base, an hour away, and not yet retired, the Johncours had some hard thinking to do. They bought the campground on Aug. 6, 2021, the first day of the annual Sturgis Motorcycle Rally.

“It was chaos,” Monika said. “It was wild. It was literally jumping into the fire.”

But, blessings abounded in the midst of the chaos. The previous owner stayed on for a few days, showing Monika the ropes while Peter finished his active duty. Monika had recently returned from a deployment and had some vacation time saved. While Peter developed requirements for the new B-21 integration program office at Elsworth, Monika took leave and learned, with the help of the previous owner, how to run a campground.

While jumping into campground ownership in the Black Hills at the beginning of the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally might seem like a crazy idea, Monika says she is grateful she and Peter made that decision.

“We learned in the first 24 hours how to prepare and execute when life is a sprint,” she said. “The beginning of August [in the Black Hills] you cannot compare to any other time in the summer.”

Along with the previous owner staying on – “someone who was well seasoned to help us as we found our feet,” Monika continued – family members also showed up to help during those first crucial weeks. The summer of 2023 was the first year that the Johncours were able to operate the campground together, full time.

Timber Ridge is one of the few campgrounds located on Iron Mountain Road. The property spans 17 acres, but less than 5 of those acres are developed. The beautiful thing about the space, Monika says, is that it invites guests to roam. It cultivates and encourages an outdoor culture. Spokane Creek runs right through the property, and a café serves artisan drinks and snacks.

“I like to say that we attract families,” Monika said. And that, too, plays into the owning-a-campground-someday dream.

“I grew up in an era when Mom’s rule was to be back home when the lights go on,” she said.

Last summer, a young girl camping with her grandparents at Timber Ridge wandered over to the Johncours’ campsite. There were kids at their campsite, and the young girl wanted to hang out with them.

“She said, ‘I just have to be back when Grandma’s light comes on,’” Monika said. “That really warmed my heart. I thought, oh my goodness, this is exactly what I wanted … We are really fostering that family-centered environment.”

Monika is also a yoga teacher and sound healer, and she offer a class at the campground every Saturday from Memorial Day to Labor Day at 7 p.m., weather permitting.

People come, she says, and they bring their kids along.

Pete is an assistant coach for both the Custer Middle School and High school football teams as well as the pole vault coach.

None of this dream would have been possible without the huge support of a course called Boots to Business, which is available to veterans through the U.S. Small Business Administration, they said. The course connected the Johncours with resources and professionals to move their business plan along. They learned the value of creating a BAIL team – having a banker, an accountant, insurance and a lawyer in your corner. The course gave them a solid foundation and a clear path forward to buy the campground.

Honoring the couple with an SBA award was a natural choice, said Jaime Wood, SBA South Dakota district director.

“Monika and Pete had the calling to self-employ and potentially create jobs for others through small business ownership,” Wood said. “They already had decades of strategic planning, teamwork and leadership, and project implementation experience from their military service – all the skills required to jumpstart and grow a business. They are a great example of “how to” leverage many small business resources, programs, and lending to make a business dream become a reality.”

Earning the veteran-owned Small Business of the Year Award is a tremendous accolade, they said.

“It means the world to us,” Monika said.

The award is a testament not only to a job well done, but a dream that is continuing to unfold.

“[Buying a campground] is something that we knew was our dream, but it wasn’t easy,” she said.

Learn more and book reservations at www.timberridgecampground.com.