🚀 go-pugleaf

I was out tonight attempting to reduce the number of pests through
direct conflict that generally feast on my garden and trees unfettered
from human contact. I was providing vigilantly style justice to several
snails, slugs, pincher bugs, and beetles when I ducked my head into a
heavy silken thread stretched from my persimmon tree to one of my cars.
This type of steel-cabling has usually been a good indicator of a black
widow. But the Shelob that greeted me was not black nor did she have the
tell-tale hour-glass in the abdomen. This Behemoth was orange and gray!
It had a bulbous body like a blockier but wasn't as aggressive.

I've just read an article in Discover Magazine on spiders in the US and
immediately thought of the hobo spider. Has anyone else run across this
spider or can you provide any other information on it?

The "Arachnophobic" Ranger

PS: She was FAST! Before I finished staring at her, she was back in the
persimmon tree and gone for the night.