C_Kyle

So, I went out to the Ocala National Forest a few hours ago to do some trail exploration, and overall, it was fun. I had the top down and was pretty much just cruising around Fore Lake and Lake Eaton, taking random dirt roads and trails. The trails around Fore Lake were loaded with mud holes of various sizes, so it was pretty fun. As I'm driving through the trails, I'm scraping the brush on the sides of the trail and also any low hanging branches, etc. Lots of leaves and crap is falling inside the Jeep, no big deal. I'm also getting lots of huge-ass horse flies, and an assortment of other bugs, no big deal. Well, all was well and good until I approached a low hanging branch and before I knew it, I'm running straight into a fairly large banana spider's web, located on the left side of the road, stretching up to the low hanging branch. The web stuck to the driver's side of the windshield and the spider, just missing the top of the windshield, decided to repel down, landing right on my face. I don't have a phobia, but I hate spiders. Totally forgetting I'm driving, I grab at my face and sling the large banana spider out the window, which is open; lucky for me, the road happened to be straight for once. But wait, the fun's not over. The same scenario happened 4 more times, all banana spiders, minus the spider landing on my face. One of the five spider incidents involved the spider swinging in the driver's window, conveniently landing on the a/c vent, where it tried to slowly creep inside. I swung it fast, smashing the spider in two. Yes, that's messy, but I'd rather clean up a mess than have the not-so-little bastard crawl out of the vent while I'm on the road. Anyway, I meandered my way back to HWY 40 and headed back to Ocala, stopping at the Forest Car Wash to hose all the mud and other crap off. I'm waiting for the rain to stop so I can go outside and vack up all the pine needles, oak leaves, and miscelaneous bugs.

C_Kyle

GatorGreenJK

Kind of reminds me of mountain biking single trac in Florida in the Summer, hammer down a trail and all of a sudden your glasses are plastered with spider web and that BIG ass banana spider is crawling over your helmet and down the back of your jerzey

C_Kyle

Yeah, I know what you mean. I bike too; mainly Santos here in Ocala. I'm not too adventurous, and stick to XC.

FiveOff

Man, I hate running into those spiders! They're huge! I remember walking through the woods in Ocala to get to a cave entrance when one got caught up in my hair. I was screaming like a little girl!

FLLawdog

I haven't seen a banana spider since I left Marion County. And let me tell ya...that's a good thing! Here lately we're getting a bunch of wolf spiders in and around the house. Little did I know that they carry their young on their bodies. So, I see one in the garage, kick it with my shoe and what looked like a couple hundred (I know it wasn't that many) baby spiders were going all over the place. Looked like I was doing the river dance trying to stomp on them.

Until last year I've never seen a black widow. Since then, I've killed a half dozen of 'em and found another half dozen or so already dead. As far as spiders go, they're actually kinda pretty.

C_Kyle

Wolf spiders are the reason I hate spiders. When I was a kid, we lived in the woods here in Marion County. The wolf spiders were huge, fast, and always inside. I was bit once, while asleep, and I think that's the reason I hate them. Weird thing, I like terantulas and the little black and white jumping spiders.

Oh, a quick cure for the wolf spider with the thousand babies on it's back is WD40 and a lighter.

FLLawdog

Dude, you only saw the picture which is impressive enough. To get the full effect you have to see IT!!! I worked for a large automotive manufacturing company in Ocala 13 years ago. My buddy and I worked in the receiving fields and we'd shoot them with big rubber bands. It was like blowing up a mustard package! They do make awesome looking webs, though.

Yeah, WD 40 works, but not when the bugger is on the drywall! I can see calling State Farm now...."well, there was this spider you see..."