The Little Black Jumping Spider

​We were driving from New Jersey to Dover, NH, on the first leg of a journey to visit family in NH, western Maine, Down East Maine and Upstate NY.

As we drove up Rte 84, suffering from the fourth traffic jam that would make us an hour late, I noticed a little black jumping spider crawling up the inside of the windshield.

Now, I am not particularly bothered by bugs. Living in the woods means l’ve gotten used to them.  But a spider in a car? Whenever I see a spider in the car I stop breathing!

“There’s a spider.” I said. “There’s A Spider!  THERE’S A SPIDER!!” I made Tom pull over to the side of the road and squushed myself into my seat as he came around the front of the car and tried to reach it from where I was sitting. Then I got out of the car so he try harder. He was not successful. It scurried over to the driver’s side of the windshield and disappeared under the gasket that holds the windshield in place.

I started breathing again and jokingly told Tom that he was a cute little guy.  I kept an eye out for him and watched him stick his little furry feet out from under the gasket again.  Later that evening, while at our friend’s home in NH, he told me it had been running up and down his leg!

The next day, while on our way to Madrid, ME, I was dozing and just about to close my eyes. I had a bandana and a pair of sunglasses on. Just as I was closing my eyes, he slipped down from of my bandanna and the top of my sunglasses and nearly scared me to death! I flung the sunglasses onto the dashboard and watched him scurry off to the safety of the windshield gasket yet again. It’s amazing how a little quarter inch spider can look enormous when it’s crawling down your glasses!

Segue into Tuesday afternoon, on our way to see my other sister, I was driving and suddenly, there he was, perched on lip of the door where the window goes up and down. Gleefully and with trepidation I rolled down the window and whisked him into the wind. Tom thought he  landed in the car driving next to us on the highway.

I don’t really care where he went. If it was into the next car I hope they treat him well. He really was a cute little black jumping spider!