When using expect: SSHFS Transport endpoint is not connected

When I run my SSHFS connection script from bash, everything works perfectly.

However, when I run the same script using the expect utility, I get the following error when I try to access the folder mount location:

Transport endpoint is not connected

Here is my expect script:

#!/usr/bin/expect -f
spawn standard_sshfs_connection_string_or_script
expect "password: "
send "my_password\r"

Q: Any Ideas?

Note:

1. I've first already called: fusermount -u mount_location
2. Is there something about spawn creating a new process, perhaps the sshfs process closes prematurely? (Is there any way to ensure the sshfs process stays open?)