Big Bend Road Trip - Day 2

Route:	Tuscaloosa, AL -to- Palestine, TX
Miles Today:	544
Total Miles:	1,088

A little hard to believe, but after a second 10-hour day in the saddle, we rode the same mileage. It's not noted above, but we rode the same distance down the tenth of a mile.

I was wrong about Alabama. There was no western speed trap like what we rolled through on the Eastern state line. 70 all the way. Today, I was on the lookout for things that clearly indicated that we were heading west:

• Armadillo road kill in Louisiana - Not a common sight on the East Coast.
• Seeing a sign that read "Mississippi River" - Note that the mighty Mississippi was not nearly as broad as I had assumed. I resisted the urge to break into Rush (Tom Sawyer) as I was crossing the bridge.
  
• Seeing the land go flat as a board once we crossed the river into Louisiana.
• Louisiana has brown highways.
  
• The mile markers count down as you head West, so it was more than a little strange to see a mile marker that read '625' miles. That's the distance until I-20 merges with I-10, not the state line. Texas is a BIG state.
• Stopped at a gas station and we were told that Bonnie and Clyde were killed just a few miles down the road.
• Saw a Texas Longhorn in a field somewhere in Texas.
  

Today marked our first exit from I-20 and we got on the road in South Carolina. This was the last of the big travel days and tomorrow we start to look around the Lone Star state. Dad also recorded a few riding videos with his new bike-mounted camera, so I will have to post them later.