Anyone who lives in, or has visited, the Iowa City area in the past month has probably seen at least one of the Herky statues on Parade. Not having the time to visit each Herky, I had only seen a few on my way to work and in passing downtown. Yesterday, I decided to take advantage of the beautiful weather and go Herky Hunting. In a little under 20 miles on my bike, I was able to find 36 of the 83 new Herkys and two 2004 Herkys.
My boyfriend and I sat down with the Iowa City Metro Trails Map and the Herky on Parade website to create a route where we would see the most Herkys possible on our bicycles. We began taking Mormon Trek to the University of Iowa Credit Union where we spotted our first Herky, Back to our Roots Herky, then continued on Mormon Trek to the University of Iowa Hall of Fame. The Chrome Herky was a little more difficult to find than the first, but we hunted hard and found it. However, we only found the Chrome Herky and the a Herky statue from 2004. Hayden Herky won hide and seek that round, as we still do not know where he stands.
From the University of Iowa Hall of Fame, we took Hawkeye Park Rd. to the Clear Creek Trail to 2nd St. in Coralville. We crossed the street on 12th Ave. and turned left at the stop light onto 5th St. From there, we went to the Coralville Library to see Father/Daughter Herky. This is where the hunt got slightly confusing for a few reasons. First, the Herky was inside the library, and secondly, we were looking for Father/Daughter Herky, but Uncle Herky was inside Coralville Library instead. Apparently Father/Daughter Herky was getting some minor repairs done. At this point, I also realized we missed Herky of the Opera, so we looped back to the Coralville Center for the Performing Arts. We then headed down 5th street farther to the Police Station where SGT. Herky is located.
After leaving the police station, we took 5th St. to 18th St. then turned right onto 8th St. to locate Referee Herky at the Coralville Rec. Center. Herky was not outside, so we ventured inside and found him by the front door. We hopped back on our bikes, took the sidewalk behind the rec. center to the aquatic center where Bachelor Herky was patiently waiting our arrival. A short jaunt through the parking lot led us Technicolor Herky at Coralville City Hall.
Our next destination was U of I Health Care at Iowa River Landing, we took the bike lane to Haden FryWay, turned right onto 9th St. and took the first left to see Herky On-Call. We ventured further through Iowa River Landing Rd. to see Captain Herk in front of Von Maur and Baker Herky in front of Scratch Cupcakes. We traveled down to the Marriot, where we went inside to see Ironman Herky. We knew there was another Herky around the Mariott somewhere, so we went behind the building and found where Gymnast Herky usually stands, but this Herky was out on repair as well.
From here, we jumped on the trail off Edgewater Dr., came out on 1st Ave, then turned toward Heartland Inn where we spotted Herkules and carried on our way to Superhero Herky in front of Hardees, then You’re the One Herky at the softball field, where we rode on the Coralville Strip Nature Trail. We took this to the Carver parking lot where we crossed Hawkins Dr. to see Wrestling Highlight Herky. We then traveled behind Kinnick to find Conductor Herky, but were unable to find him, so we moved on to Marching Band Herky.
From Marching Band Herky, we biked down Melrose and across the river to Aqua Hawk at the Wellness Center, crossed the street to see Lindquist Herky, and followed Madison St. to Capt. Herky. We should have kept going down Madison to the IMU where Heart of Iowa Herky waits to be found, but instead went up Washington St. to downtown. We parked our bikes on Iowa Ave., and walked around downtown where we found Journey of a Warrior Herky, #Herky, Out of this World Herky, Graduation Herky, Iowa’s Jazz Capital Herky, Organic Herky, In the Paint Herky, Checkmate Herky, Drawing the line Herky, Herky’s Community, and Rough Hewn Herky.
After grabbing a bite to eat, we walked through Old Capital Mall where we spotted C(Herk)itry and Student Herky. Once we got back to our bikes we began our trek home. We took Clinton St. to Benton St. where across from McDonalds stands Flower Power Herky, then turned around and hopped on the Iowa River Trail which led us to Terry Trueblood Rec. Area. We found Wood Grain Herky near the pond and continued on our way home. Taking McCollister Blvd (which turns into Mormon Trek) to Hwy 1, we knew there was one Herky we missed, so once again we turned around and found Just Herky nestled back behind the cars at Billion Auto.
Finally, five hours and 20 miles later, we were home and exhausted. Herky hunting was more difficult and time consuming than we thought. Prior to our adventure, we assumed the Herkys would be in plain sight and right where the map showed. This was not always the case. However, looking back at the day, the Herky’s we had to search for were more fun to find than those out in the open. I mean, who doesn’t like a good challenge?
