‘The Wooden Derrick Cafe’ Is Now Open in Downtown Casper [PHOTOS]

Casper has a new food option for breakfast, lunch and dinner. The Wooden Derrick Cafe is now open in downtown Casper, in the former Charlie T's location.

I had the chance to speak with owner, Kelly Reyes. This is what she had to say about downtown's newest addition:

This was my brain child! My husband was just amazing enough to help me see it through. We tried a couple years ago to open, but that fell through, as sometimes these do. But that did not stop me! I continued to drive truck, constantly talking about this, and then the day came when it became a reality.

We chose Casper because this is where we planned to retire. I grew up between Casper and Colorado as a kid growing up as divorced parenting goes, I spent much of my teenage years here, went to High School my sophomore and part of my Junior year at Natrona County.

I have so many photos of my dad hauling out of the refinery, the Saturday morning coffee club up at ghost town with his trucking buddies. All of these memories in addition to my obsession, I guess, with this industry, its deep rooted history in Casper and growing up becoming a truck driver myself. I feel very lucky to have grown up this way. I have much respect for the men and women in this industry, and the stories that I have heard never get old.  My walls have a fresh space ready for anyone who wants to help fill them with memories, and Derricks!

My other skill is restaurant. As most single mothers will agree, it is a great form of income when you need to put food on the table for the kids, and that was my way of life for several years in addition to driving before I met my husband Gabe, who we raised 6 kids together between his and mine over the past 20 years. I never ran out of milk or bread or eggs, because I was able to make tips to provide that.  Waitressing was and always has been my go to job when trucking jobs were scarce. I was unwilling to drive over the road having kids, and working in a mans world as it once was….. well, I was unwilling to sacrifice for them either. I know restaurants as much as I know Trucking, much like a welder, or an oil field worker know their trades…this is mine, including the trials and errors we will encounter along the way!

Gabe and I have had our work cut out for us so far putting this together, but it’s been as much fun as it has been frustrating, and then back to fun! The crazy ideas we came up with, then said… Nope, that won’t work…. To hey! Now that looks pretty good! We put a great staff together too! They have stopped in and messed with the computer system to get themselves familiar and tossed around some great ideas too! That’s exactly what we were looking for.

For more information, follow the official Facebook page for The Wooden Derrick Cafe here.