We used to take regular trips to Texas when I was growing up. I haven't been there in awhile but back when we did go there were "Drive Friendly" signs all over the place. We used mostly State highways and in the two-lane sections with wide, well-maintained shoulders, drivers would almost always scoot over onto the shoulder to allow faster traffic to pass. I don't know if that's as common now but if it is, bicycling on those shoulders would sound like a bad idea to me. Great for cars, bad for bikes.

If it's still legal to drive a car on the shoulder in Texas (I think in Kansas you can only use the shoulder for emergency stops, etc. - they're not usually maintained for use at highway speed), then maybe bikes aren't supposed to be there. But going to jail for it? Sounds like there's something more to that story - one way or another.