We’ve spent the last few days in the Niagara Falls/Buffalo region of Western New York. It had its ups and downs like any road trip with kids, but was an overall pleasant experience. Especially since we got our truck fixed! Woohoo!

Finding someone to diagnose why the Defender is still overheating has been at the top of my list for the last few weeks ever since we overheated twice coming over the Poconos in Pennsylvania and once again while driving up to Niagara Falls. Turns out North Texas British who looked at it two months ago were completely full of it, and I’m still annoyed by their poor diagnosing. After all they said the vehicle was fine, only the temperature gauge was incorrect.

While at my sister’s in Pennsylvania, I pulled off the water pump and thermostat and found both to be working okay. There are quite a few garages/shops in the New England area who specialize in Land Rovers including Defenders, so I’d hoped we’d be able to find somebody who could squeeze us in and figure out the problem.

So while we spent a few days in Niagara Falls before doing a loop of the New England area I called up the first garage on my list – booked solid for 2 weeks out. He gave me the number of another guy to call who gave me the number of another guy etc. I ended up having to call three different guys each of whom pointed me to the next before finally discovering Athol Motor Cars in Buffalo only 30 minutes away from where we were staying.

This was definitely God working again. Less than a mile down the road from Athol Motors was a botanical garden and library where the kids and I spent the day. It only took Jeff about 30 minutes to diagnose the issue – the radiator was clogged and had almost zero flow. Jeff found a guy in Buffalo who had a radiator for our truck in stock – this was the real miracle here given our truck is British and why should an American garage have a radiator in stock?! My opinion – God knew where we’d end up.

As the kiddos and I whiled away the day at the nearby library eating snacks and such for lunch, Jeff and his guys got to work. The older two read books and played on the computers while they younger two played with toys and games – it was truly an awesome library. Jeff and his guys were able to finish up the repairs by close of business and we were able to get back on the road before dinner.
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Now we are ready to head east to the Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream Factory and our loop of the New England area full in the knowledge we should not overheat again. Hooray!