You don't need a CHL to have a firearm with you while traveling in Texas. Wikipedia explains it well: "Gov. Perry also signed H.B. 1815 after passage by the 20

You don't need a CHL to have a firearm with you while traveling in Texas. Wikipedia explains it well: "Gov. Perry also signed H.B. 1815 after passage by the 2007 Legislature, a bill that allows any Texas resident to carry a concealed handgun in the resident's motor vehicle without a CHL or other permit. The bill revised Chapter 46, Section 2 of the Penal Code to state that it is in fact not "Unlawful Carry of a Weapon", as defined by the statute, for a person to carry a handgun while in a motor vehicle they own or control, or to carry while heading directly from the person's home to that car. However, lawful carry while in a vehicle requires these three critical qualifiers: (1) the weapon must not be in plain sight (in Texas law, "plain sight" and "concealed" are mutually exclusive opposing terms); (2) the carrier cannot be involved in criminal activities, other than Class C traffic misdemeanors; and (3) the carrier cannot be a member of a criminal gang."