The only answer is to wear long slacks tucked into your socks. Long sleeves and preferably a hoodie to keep them off your hair/head. Not such an easy thing in the NC summer heat.
Fran, we have this problem in the Aussie heat and humidity. Try getting your hands on (or making) long loose lightweight cotton trousers, and tucking those into your hiking boots. On top, wear a long-sleeved muslin shirt. The thin fabric is still a barrier to the ticks (as long as the weave is tight enough - doesn't need to be very tight) but still sheer enough to let the breeze through. Alternatively, wear a long muslin caftan over your usual clothing. The ticks are more likely to cling to outer clothing anyway, and crawl up it until they can reach skin somewhere, somehow. The longer the journey, the better chance you have of spotting them. And when you remove the caftan, any ticks in it will not end up on you.
Alternatively - if you have bare legs and arms, make sure your clothing is also very loose and chances are, you'll see the crittur (or feel it when it reaches skin) and the loose clothing will easily allow you to see it and brush it off before it latches on.
As for husband's swelling at the bite site - antibiotics will be useless. It's purely a histamine reaction because he's sensitised to the tick saliva. We get the same reaction here - me and difficult child 3. I CAN'T take antibiotics except under rare circumstances. So we tough it out. Antihistamines help a lot.
Marg