Cedar Fever and other allergies in Texas.....

What an EXPERIENCE ....! The Texas hill-country Allergy Season. I have been told that the Ragweed pollen and mold-spore counts are high, many people have have a low tolerance....and are severely affected.....This included me. And now another Allergic reaction, it is called Cedar Fewer. But since we live in Cedar Creek It is no wonder that I am also allergic to that...! Here are what I have found as NATURAL cures.

1. Get locally produced honey (within a few miles of where you are). The bees will produce an anti-body to most local pollen and store this in their honey.

2. I have purchased a Texas Allergy Relief dietary supplement, sold by James E Miles. This stuff REALLY works.
Check it out at TheHerbDoctor.org

3. Gargle with sea salt water.

I can not guaranty this will work for everyone but this certainly works for me.

CapnPeter

The next stop; Texas and New Mexico

Having finally completed the war of red tape with the Canadian and German governments regarding Karin’s passport, and the wounds from the scooter accident are healing, we are finally able to leave Slow and Easy Living RV-park in Lake City and Florida. Here we had a somewhat unexpectedly long, but very pleasant and enjoyable stay. Just in time, not to have to deal with the arrival of the fist hurricane of the season, called Dennis. As always, we chose to take major state highways instead of the interstate system, in order to see the scenery and drive through the towns to experience their individualities. On highway US90 we drove through Tallahassee and Quincy before stopping at Crestview for the evening and then on to Gulfport, MS via Pensacola FL, Mobile AL, and Pascagula, the next day. We overnighted at Wal Mart for both overnight rest stops. Leaving Gulfport we used interstate 10 west to get to and bypass the city traffic of Baton Rouge, LA and shortly there after picked up US 190 west and via DeRidder, LA entered Texas about 30 miles from Jasper, TX where we spent the night, again at a Wal Mart super center. Driving conditions for the entire trip were generally good, specially once we were out of Florida, where it seems that almost all drivers ignore most of the rules of the road, but now in Texas this is a totally different story. Here everyone drives a lot faster. Why? Because of the Texas roads and the speed limits. It seems that in Texas the state bought enough land to build proper highways. Yes, even state highways are built with wide shoulders and wide curves in which posted speed limits can be maintained, and the few slower moving vehicles almost always make room for passing, sometimes moving onto the shoulder, which often is as wide as a whole extra lane. In short they drive friendly here, just as many "Drive Friendly" signs request. Here people actually allow you to merge or change lanes when you use the turn signal.

The trip from Jasper to Austin, our destination, took only a few hours and so we arrived at HWY71 RV Park, just outside Austin in Bastrop, TX.. Here we received another treat... The RV-park with 70 spaces had some of the nicest facilities we have seen, from the swimming pool to the large tiled bathrooms and showers, rec room with computer access, a laundry which rivaled many Laundromat’s, to 30 and 50 amp service and free wireless internet, this park had it all. It is a Passport America member and pricing is $10.00 per day, with weekly and monthly rates available. The next few days we spent exploring Austin with a friend, visiting from Hawaii, who grew up in Austin, so we got to see many places not included on regular tourist information. You know the kind of places that survived sometimes unchanged despite massive construction projects, since she has lived here, a couple of decades ago. Following the nice breather in Austin, we continued heading west toward New Mexico where we have an appointment. We made very good time the first day, again because of the excellent Texas highway system. We drove highway 290 through Rollingwood, Dripping Springs, Johnson City and Fredericksburg before continuing west on I-10. We did not take the time to stop in Fredericksburg but it is definitely on the list for places to explore next time we are nearby. It seems like a part of old Germany was transplanted here, bakeries, restaurants, a brewery and many other shops, it is a walking town with parking spaces totally filled as we slowly passed through. On the "Superslab," Interstate 10 we made our first overnight stop in Fort Stockton, again using Wal-Mart instead of the highway rest stops. Next stop is Las Cruces, NM, again on I-10 the only logical choice. The next morning we continued on NM highway 188, 185 and 187,all the same highway, running pretty much along the Rio Grande through towns with names like: Radium Springs, Hatch, Salem, Garfield, Caballo, Arrey and Las Palomas about a three-hour drive to our destination, in Williamsburg near Truth or Consequences. Because of the many irrigation canals, ditches and dams from the Rio Grande, along this stretch of highway, we experience a diversity of crops along the entire route. Many things are grown here from alfalfa to pecans and many things between, including corn, onions, cabbage and chili-peppers. Hatch, it turns out is the chili capital of the south west, and has an annual chili festival. We arrive a day early at the Desert Haven Animal Refuge and RV park before noon. I have signed up here as a "Work-camper" in exchange for a free site with full hook up. The RV section is a small section with large spaces for 7 units but no other amenities in a desert setting near the Rio Grande with nice mountain views. I will help with animal care and some maintenance projects. The animals here include unwanted dogs, cats, rabbits, guinea pigs, doves, chickens, ducks and peacocks. This will be another lengthy stay in a dry desert environment with so many things to explore that it will require weeks or months of exploring. It is hot, near 100 degrees, but due to the minimal humidity it actually feels good, we are 2 miles from Truth or Consequences at slightly more than 4200 feet of elevation, and within a short distance of Caballo and Elephant Butte lakes. Truth or Consequences, locally known as T or C is filled with many old historic buildings, a lot of old history and many hot spring baths it is an old town and has only a few multi story buildings, and about 3000 full time residents which, I am told will swell considerably in the winter months. I am told that we are only a short drive from experiencing snow in the winter. One of the places where snow can be experienced is Chloride, a ghost town a nice day trip away in the Black Hills mountain range. We made that trip and visited the museum, which was a real treat. It is today located in what was the general store dating back to the 1870s and housed all manner of tools, housewares and appliances and the expertly guided tour gives one a good look back into the silver mining history of the area. Other almost must see places here in southern New Mexico are Gila National Forest between Hillsboro and Silver City,the Gila cave-dwellings Rockhound State Park and of course Palomas in Mexico.