diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index a4b6eac35..65eb574b7 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -18,16 +18,12 @@ cache:
   directories:
   - $HOME/repo.cache
 
-git:
-  lfs_skip_smudge: true
 
 #======================================================================
 #======================================================================
 before_install:
   - |
     # setup the configurables that the subsequent scripts use
-
-    # see .travis/prep.sh for a full description of these env vars
     export BUNDLE_URL="https://github.com/JCSDA/soca-bundle.git"
     export MAIN_REPO=soca
     export MAIN_BUILD_TYPE=${BUILD_TYPE}    
@@ -37,9 +33,9 @@ before_install:
     export LIB_BUILD_OPT_OOPS="-DENABLE_OOPS_TOYMODELS=OFF"
     export MATCH_REPOS="saber oops ioda ioda-converters ufo soca soca-config"
     export LFS_REPOS="soca"
-
     export BRANCH=$( [[ "$TRAVIS_PULL_REQUEST" == "false" ]] && \
                      echo $TRAVIS_BRANCH || echo $TRAVIS_PULL_REQUEST_BRANCH )
+
     export_vars="-e REPO_CACHE=/repo.cache -e LIB_REPOS -e LIB_BUILD_TYPE 
                  -e MAIN_REPO -e MAIN_BUILD_TYPE -e CCACHE_DIR=/ccache
                  -e LIB_BUILD_OPT_OOPS"
@@ -49,6 +45,7 @@ before_install:
     WORK_DIR=$HOME/work
     mkdir -p $WORK_DIR; cd $WORK_DIR
     REPO_CACHE=$HOME/repo.cache ${TRAVIS_BUILD_DIR}/.travis/prep.sh
+    mv ${TRAVIS_BUILD_DIR} ${WORK_DIR}/repo.src/
 
   - |
     # alter file permissions
@@ -58,7 +55,7 @@ before_install:
 
   - |
     # prepare docker image from jcsda/docker:latest
-    cd ${TRAVIS_BUILD_DIR}/.travis
+    cd ${WORK_DIR}/repo.src/${MAIN_REPO}/.travis
     docker build -t jcsda/dockerl2 --build-arg=Dockerfile .
     docker images
     ci_env=`bash <(curl -s https://codecov.io/env)`
diff --git a/.travis/prep.sh b/.travis/prep.sh
index e5f4764ad..cb59bfbbe 100755
--- a/.travis/prep.sh
+++ b/.travis/prep.sh
@@ -29,6 +29,10 @@ for repo in $LIB_REPOS $MAIN_REPO; do
         fi
     done
 
+    # if this is the main test repo, don't download, assume
+    # it has already been downloaded by TravisCI
+    [[ $repo == $MAIN_REPO ]] && continue
+
     # determine the branch / git hash tag, based on the branch name in the original bundle
     repo_url=$(grep "PROJECT $repo" $repo_bundle_dir/CMakeLists.txt | awk '{print $5}' | sed 's|"||g')
     repo_branch=$(grep "PROJECT $repo" $repo_bundle_dir/CMakeLists.txt | awk '{print $8}')
@@ -59,8 +63,8 @@ for repo in $LIB_REPOS $MAIN_REPO; do
     # save the version info to a file
     verfile=$repo_bundle_dir/build.version
     rm -rf $verfile
-    echo "repo: $repo" > $verfile
-    echo "git_branch: $repo_branch"     >> $verfile
+    echo "repo: $repo"                  > $verfile
+    echo "git_branch: $repo_branch"    >> $verfile
     echo "git_hash: $repo_hash"        >> $verfile
     echo "build_type: $LIB_BUILD_TYPE" >> $verfile
     echo "dependency_repo: $prev_repo" >> $verfile