Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas

Two thirds of my trip (in reference to distance) is over.  The one-third left is all in Texas.  Crazy, huh?

Welcome to Mississippi

Well, my entire day was spent driving today.  I began my day in Birmingham, Alabama, and I am now in Dallas Texas.  I didn't really do anything interesting, although in Alabama I saw something interesting.  It was about 50 miles from the border with Mississippi on I-20W.  About 5 miles or so before that, I saw a sheriff's car with its lights flashing speeding by.  I wasn't sure what it was about, though I thought he may have been after the vehicle I saw illegally use the access road that is located between the two sides of the interstate.  But later, I saw where he was headed.
On the other side of the interstate, I saw 5 sheriff's cars pulled over, one speeding away, and one speeding towards it all with flashing lights.  There were no other cars on the side of the road, but I did see people sitting on the side of the road.  I have no idea what it was about, but it was interesting to see.

Was this picture taken in Alabama, Mississippi, or Louisiana?
I couldn't tell you.  They all look the same.

Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana all pretty much looked alike...lots of trees, very green.  In fact, it was beautiful . . . but boring all at the same time.
I started having a problem with my credit card at gas stations.  I guess some gas stations will block a card (it's not denied by the bank, the gas station just won't let you use it at the pump for 24 hours).  That's probably a good thing for most people since they wouldn't need to fill up three times in one day, but when you are traveling, it is really annoying.  I stopped at a gas station in Bossier, Louisiana, but they wouldn't let me just fill up my car.  They would only let me pre-pay inside, so I went somewhere else.  That's just really annoying when I'm trying to fill up my car, and when I get annoyed, they don't get my money.  There was a gas station just across the border in Texas that let me fill up even though I had to go inside to do it.  I really hope I don't have that same problem tomorrow.

Louisiana

Oh, another interesting thing: I went to Sonic for dinner, and they have a credit card machine on the outside of the window!  I just pulled up, swiped my card while I was waiting, and was good to go!  It makes it nice for people who are worried about someone stealing their credit card number.  If they never handle the card, that will never be possible, right?

At last in Texas.  Still a ways to go!

Credit Card Machine in the Sonic drive-through

My hotel room.  They wanted more for a room with a
single bed, so Gizmo gets his own tonight.