That stretch of Interstate between Meridian, MS. and Birmingham is where armadillos go to die. I've never seen anything like it and I lived in East Texas for nearly a decade.
If you're ever down for the 'fest, drive about 45 minutes southwest to the town of Moundville and the Archaeological Park. It's well worth the trip. So is Etowah in GA. Both cities rolled out a rain of spears and arrows on de Soto's 1540-1542 "Death March" through the South. (Sherman had nothing but better cannon and firearms.) De Soto's men and animals brought diseases the locals had never been exposed to. Killed about 90% of the population in the New World w/o getting within miles of them. The Old World diseases traveled along traditional trade routes to places Europeans wouldn't see for another couple of hundred years, killing hundreds of thousands. Jesus, what a slaughter!