diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index ffbbb5d41e..f7e9df925c 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 # these are executed in order.  each must pass for the next to be run
 stages:
   - smoke # this ensures a "user" install works properly
+  - precache # warm up cache for default Node.js version
   - lint # lint code and docs
   - test # all tests
 
@@ -20,13 +21,18 @@ jobs:
     - &node
       script: npm start test.node
       node_js: '8'
-      cache: false
 
     - <<: *node
       node_js: '6'
+      cache:
+        directories:
+          - node_modules
 
     - <<: *node
       node_js: '4'
+      cache:
+        directories:
+          - node_modules
 
     - script: npm start test.bundle test.browser
       before_script: mkdir -p .karma
@@ -56,6 +62,9 @@ jobs:
     - <<: *smoke
       node_js: '4'
 
+    - stage: precache
+      script: true
+
 notifications:
   email: false
   urls: